


You Only Need One

by Tomboy13



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Jealous Kara Danvers, Kidnapping, People make mistakes and are forgiven, The bad guys are real bastards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-06-16 16:49:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15441453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomboy13/pseuds/Tomboy13
Summary: Kara likes to be the only one saving Lena Luthor.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been 6 weeks since Kara Zor-El had last seen her girlfriend. 

They hadn’t spent that much time apart since they started dating almost a year earlier, and her heart had ached every day that she didn’t get to be near the youngest Luthor, but they’d needed Supergirl to check out an abandoned space ship that was hovering just outside of Earth’s atmosphere; expecting a quick fix, Kara had kissed her lover goodbye and gone to do her duty.

The battered old space station had turned out to be a Vortasik plague ship. 2 weeks of clean up and 4 weeks in intense quarantine later, seeing her loved ones only through reinforced glass deep underneath the DEO, and the Kryptonian was ready to burst with excitement as she stood outside of the CEO’s office at the top of L Corp tower.

Alex had tried to convince her to warn Lena beforehand, but Kara, ever the drama-club-kid, was set on the idea of surprising her lover; she’d spent days imagining how that beautiful face would look when she finally saw the last bastion of House El standing proudly in her door way.

Lena’s secretary wasn’t at the foyer desk when Kara arrived, and, unable to wait a moment longer, she almost skipped the short corridor to the heavy, dark wood doors, pushing both open hard enough to make them slam shudderingly into the wall. As her eyes adjusted to the scene in front of her, she realised yet again that her elder sister had been right.

Lena had her back to the door, standing precariously on one leg while trying to adjust the strap of an intimidatingly high kitten heel. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a silk blouse that hugged the soft, feminine hour-glass curve of her figure, and Kara would have admired the view if it hadn’t been obstructed by the suit-clad body of a man, an arm gripping tightly around the business woman’s waist to keep her steady. Through the growing green-eyed mist, Kara noted that they were laughing.

Standing up straight and turning towards the sound of the door, Lena began fixing blouse, deft fingers tucking the edge into her skirt, eyes scrunched in mirth and trained on her associate’s handsome face. 

The other person, Kara now saw, wasn’t a man at all, but a tall, dark-haired woman, with heavy set eye brows and skin the colour of coffee, her hair shaved close to her head in a crew cut. Smiling, she turned her dark eyes towards the reporter while adjusting her suit lapels and making sure her deep purple tie was straight. Her arm hadn’t left Lena’s waist.

“Oh my god, Kara!” 

Kara’s thoughts were cut off as 120 pounds of Irish-American woman leapt into her arms. Lena was mumbling excitedly from where she had buried her face in the crook of the Super’s neck, her long legs wrapped around the alien’s strong midriff. Sighing, the blonde breathed in, allowing the scent of expensive perfume and familiar skin wash away the weeks of medical bleach and solitude. 

“I missed you, babe, so much.” She sighed into her girlfriend’s long, soft hair.

Finally leaning back, the brunette clashed their lips together, grinning and murmuring “I love you”’s between their mouths.

After a couple of minutes, Lena shifted, letting herself slide down her lover’s body as Kara, reluctantly, let her go. 

The stranger was still there, lips pursed in a cheeky half smile. Lena groaned.

“Oh, shush, you.” She said with a dismissive wave of her hand, and it took a second for Kara to realise that she wasn’t talking to her but to the other woman. Something angry flared in her gut, shocking her, and she hurriedly pushed it down.

“I don’t think we’ve met.” The blonde said, adjusting her glasses, feeling relieved that her voice sounded warmer than she’d expected.

“Of course you haven’t!” Lena took her lover’s hand, tugging her gently across the floor. “This is Tara Elliot; Tara, this is Kara Danvers, my partner.”

“Nice to meet you.” Tara said in a voice that suggested she wasn’t very pleased at all, and held out a slender hand. Kara took it, never breaking eye contact.

“Likewise. That sounds like an British accent, how do you know Lena?”

The black woman gave a small shrug. “Well, an English accent, anyway. Lena employed me some weeks ago now; I’m her hired muscle.”

Kara wrinkled her brow. “Her what?”

Lena leaned over and batted the British woman’s bicep fondly. “I could afford to hire a lot more muscle than you, Ms Elliot.” Turning to her girlfriend, she said “You remember when you first had to go on your...trip, you told me to get a bodyguard?”

The reporter blinked, disbelieving. “You... _this_ is your bodyguard?” 

When she’d suggested that Lena find a bodyguard while Supergirl incapacitated, her mind’s eye had cooked up some six-foot wall of muscle with a neck like a bull; the woman standing in front of them with a smirk on her face was barely taller than Lena in her Gucci heels, and slender as a willow. The thought that while she had been out of action, this had been all that stood between the youngest Luthor and death turned her blood to ice.

“Yes, and she’s been marvellous. Alex found her.”

“Alex, as in my Alex?” Kara asked, still in disbelief. “You work at the FBI?”

Tara shook her head. “Oh no, I only met Alex a few weeks ago, just before Lena’s need arose.”

Kara’s eyes ballooned, her chest swelling as she inhaled sharply. Lena gave the smallest of frowns, squeezing her lover’s hand tightly. 

“Tara, could you possibly give us a minute?”

Tara gave a bow with her head, jokingly clicked together the heels of her shiny black Oxfords, and left, pulling the doors closed behind her.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” The brunette asked as soon as the doors clicked shut.

Kara took a few wobbly steps away, freeing herself from the Luthor’s grasp, pressing her hands over her eyes under their frames.

“Tell me that she isn’t the only one you hired?”

Lena frowned deeper, hands coming up to rest on her hips defensively.

“Of course she is. I’m not a child, Kara, and I’m sure your sister wouldn’t have suggested Tara if Alex didn’t think she was up to the job.”

“Jesus, Lena, the woman looks like a stiff breeze would blow her over! I cannot believe this! I’m going to kill Alex for leaving you in danger like that!”

The CEO stared at the ceiling for a moment, lips pursed tightly together, before exhaling heavily. “Darling, you’re over reacting. There was hardly any trouble while you were gone, and the slight bit that there was, Tara was able to deal with it quickly and efficiently. Please, let’s just enjoy some time together - I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

Kara stared at her, before puffing out her cheeks. She held her hands up in supplication.

“Ok, ok I’m sorry. Come here.” 

Lena gratefully scuttled into the Kryptonian’s strong arms. After a moment, she gave a little chuckle, and said “Besides, if I’m still alive it’s because I can handle myself.”

Kara smiled, rolling her eyes. “If you say so, Bruce Lee. I just worry about you, ok? Anyway, I’m back now so there’s no need to keep a bodyguard around anymore.”

Lena nuzzled into the warmth of Kara’s chest. “I thought I’d keep her on, actually; there’s been a lot of noise lately on the death threat front, and it saves pulling you away from your jobs every time something happens.”

The smoulder of jealousy in her gut flared up again, before she could stop it.

“If that’s what you want.” She said, through gritted teeth. Lost in the sensation of having her love back, Lena just hummed happily.

“Don’t worry though, she knows she won’t be able to stay at the penthouse anymore - I’ll tell her to pick her stuff up tonight.”

From outside the office, Kara’s super senses picked up the sound of snickering that stayed with her long after she’d taken Lena home.


	2. Chapter 2

Kara had been through a lot in her 41 years; she’d seen her planet and people destroyed; lost a blood family and found a human one; become one of the greatest heroes that Earth had ever known; fallen in love. She’d fought high powered aliens and the cruelest of humans, had even fought and won against her own self-doubts. She was quietly confident now, at her Earth age of 28, that there was nothing, _nothing_ , in this galaxy that she couldn't beat in the end.

Except, apparently, the clawing feelers of jealousy currently sprouting in her stomach.

The last 4 days had been utopia. Since her release from quarantine and back into the arms of the woman she loved, Kara could hardly remember a time when she’d been as happy. They’d spent an inordinate amount of time cocooned in Lena’s penthouse, bouncing between the kitchen, living room and the giant, reinforced bed that took up nearly half of the master bedroom. Somewhere in the midst of ripped sheets and lazy breakfasts, there had been sister-brunches, and hand-in-hand walks through the barren concrete canyons of National City. They’d even managed an impromptu 80’s film night with the Super Friends that had revealed, to Alex’s delight, that Winn cried at the Never Ending Story (“Artax, guys, Artax!”). 

Kara hadn’t even thought about the gut-burning incident with the bodyguard, not after the first morning of that long weekend, when the taste of Lena’s wetness on her tongue washed away any hint of bitterness she might have once felt.

All too soon though it was Monday and the bubble had to burst. They’d eaten a rushed meal, before Lena’s driver rang to take her to work, and Kara bustled off to Cat Co.

She made it until 09:45 the same morning before the match was lit again.

She’d messaged the CEO to find out how Jess, Lena’s loyalest secretary, had gotten on organising her first solo L Corp tech expo. Kara knew that her girlfriend had been worrying, but was determined that the young assistant wouldn’t stay her assistant forever. Lena saw big things ahead for Jess Wong, and was working hard to realise them. 

A few moments later, Kara was surprised to see her phone light up with an incoming Facetime call. Answering, the screen filled with her most beloved face.

“Hey, babe, how’s it going?”

Lena smiled happily at her Super girlfriend. “Oh darling, Jess has done such a wonderful job. I couldn’t be prouder. I wanted to show you before the doors open and the rabble is released.”

“That’s awesome, let me see - spin the phone around.” Kara said, beaming with third-hand pride. 

Lena dutifully turned the camera around, scanning across the huge exhibition hall. At first glance, the reporter could see a large metal container connected with multiple wires and pipes to a solar panel and a giant glass tank; what looked like the chassis of a tractor with some kind of generator attached standing to the right; and, looming in the distance, a full 8-wheeler articulated lorry with the words “CNG: Fuel of the Future” written on the side. There were a couple of people in the scurrying hordes of scientists and salesmen that Kara vaguely recognised from galas and visits to L Corp, but it wasn’t until the camera had almost done a full 360 that her eyes settled on two faces she could name.

Jess was standing a few paces behind her boss, looking frazzled but tenuously excited. In her arms she held a yellow-pages sized stack of A4 print outs. Juggling the papers to allow her to give a wave, the secretary managed a shaky “Hi Ms. Danvers.”

Standing between the secretary and the CEO, close enough that Lena had to step back to fit her in frame, was Tara. The butch woman was wearing a three piece navy blue suit, with a white shirt and cream tie. A peak of silver watch chain caught Kara’s eye before the woman spoke.

“Hey, Kara!” She said, raising one hand to her forelock in mock salute. “Don’t worry, I’m looking after Lena for you. I’ll try and make sure she doesn’t come home with the portable desalination unit she’s had her eye on.”

Through the tinkly phone speaker, Kara heard Lena giggle. Jess was looking at the security woman with barely restrained glee, laughing so hard she eventually had to turn away from the camera.

“Portable desalination unit?”

There was a moment of juddering movement on the screen, and then Lena’s face reappeared. 

“Don’t worry, love, it’s an in-joke. I’ll explain it to you later.” In the background, a loud buzzer sounded. “Kara, darling, I’ve got to go - it’s starting. I’ll call you later, ok? Love you.” Without waiting for an answer, Lena disconnected the call, leaving her lover staring at her own reflection in the suddenly black screen.

Alex was knee deep in paperwork when Kara arrived at her studio flat that evening. The agent looked tired, a tumbler full of whiskey in her hand as she let her sister in.

“You know what I never expected when I started working at this cool top-secret government agency? Spreadsheets. Who knew that fighting evil would mean basically weekly budgetary applications?” Alex growled, waving her glass at the dining table that was swamped in a sea of paper, a laptop humming quietly in the centre.

Kara smiled half heartedly. “I guess that’s how things are nowadays.”

Alex turned around, head tilted in a curious expression. “I suppose so.”

The older Danvers sister watched the Kryptonian as she ambled morosely around the apartment, occasionally picking up and putting down papers or photo frames without really seeing them. Alex crossed her arms, raising a pointed brow.

“Everything ok?” She said after a few awkward minutes of silence.

Kara huffed. “Yeah, I guess.”

The older woman moved her hands to her hips and stared at her feet, sighing audibly, before continuing. “Kara, I really need to get this work done tonight, so could you cut out the crap and tell me what’s wrong please?”

Kara huffed again, carefully picking up a small bronze statuette of a motorbike from the kitchen counter. “What do you know about Lena’s new bodyguard?”

“Tara?” Alex asked, brow furrowing.

The alien rolled her eyes. “Yes, her. What do you know about her? She says you only met a few weeks ago; how do we know she can be trusted?”

“We didn’t meet that long ago, that’s true.” Alex shrugged. “But she’s good in a fight, she passed the J’onn test, and Lena seems to like her. That was all I needed to know, really.”

“That was all you needed to know,” the blonde said in an affronted tone, “before you left some...some _stranger_ alone with _my girlfriend_?”

“Yes, Kara. The woman saved my life, and the lives of several of my team in a pretty nasty fight. She submitted to having her mind read by J’onn, and she’s done a damn good job of protecting your girlfriend while you were gone. She’s been like Lena’s shadow; no-one could have asked for more.” Alex narrowed her eyes at the crinkle deepening between her sister’s eyebrows. “Why, has something happened?”

“No, I guess not. I just expected someone a little more...” Kara waved her hands expressively, before settling on, “voluminous.”

The agent blinked.

“Big.” Kara said helpfully.

“I know what it means, Kara, but I’ve got no idea why that should matter. I saw that woman take out 4 armed Branx warriors with her bare hands, and she broke the arm of a would-be assassin in three places just last week, before he even got a shot at Lena. She’s good.”

“Older then. A bit more imposing. She’s a bit young, and...stuff.” The Super tried again.

Suspicion sprouted in Alex Danvers mind. 

“Are you worried about having a young, athletic, good-looking lesbian guarding _your girlfriend_?” She asked, a hint of a smirk hanging off each word.

Kara snorted ungracefully. “Pfff, no, of course not. I trust Lena, and anyway, Tara isn’t that good looking. Like, yeah, she’s got this face and that hair, but, I mean, so what? She isn’t even that athletic, I could totally beat her in a foot race.”

Alex’s grin widened. “Oh my god, you _are_ jealous!”

“I-I-I am not jealous. Of course I’m not, that would be absurd, I mean, I don’t even know the woman, and s-she isn’t...I mean I’m not...just, no, not at all, that’s preposterous.”

“You so are! I can’t believe it, the mighty Supergirl, jealous of a mere mortal!” Alex crowed.

“I’m not! Just...I got back from being away, and I didn’t expect Lena to have gotten so close with the security I was always nagging her to take on. Not so quickly, anyway.”

Alex’s face grew sympathetic. “Look, Kara, is Lena ignoring you? Treating you differently? Acting inappropriately towards Tara?”

Kara gave a one-sided shrug. “No.”

“And has Tara done something untoward to make you suspect that she has any kind of mal intentions?” 

“Well, she seems a bit touchy feely...”

“Kara?” Alex said, eyebrow arched.

The alien threw her hands up sulkily. “Fine, no, she hasn’t.”

“Then I think you need to let it go. I mean, you’ve had a traumatic few weeks, and it’s understandable that you’re on edge, but you just need to take a step back on this one. Talk it through with Lena if you’re really worried, but don’t let it get in your head, ok?”

Kara pursed her lips in a thin smile, nodding gratefully. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Alex nodded, and then pointed to the couch. “Good. Now, sit there and I’ll make us some dinner. I was owed a break anyway.” 

The brunette’s smile faltered and a slight blush rose on her cheeks at the sound of her phone buzzing, indicating a text; suddenly curious, Kara craned to see the screen. “Tara E” showed bright on the message banner, but the Words themselves were hidden. Kara blanched. Tara and Alex were texting. Lena’s bodyguard and her sister were pals. Unbidden, the jealousy roared to life in the pit of her stomach again, drowning out rational thought. 

The Super didn’t realise that she’d crushed the model motorbike into foil until she heard Alex yelling at her.


	3. Chapter 3

The air above National City was stale in the mid-summer heat, the humidity making the inhabitants skin prickle and their breaths shallow. Even hovering 500 feet above the ground, Kara Danvers felt the lull as the pollution hovered in shimmering waves between the skyscrapers underneath her feet.

The crime had started around the same time as the heatwave; nearly a week and a half of unusually hot days and sweltering nights, even for NC, had brought out the worst in the city’s denizens. Aliens and humans alike, even those who were normally law abiding and peaceful, had taken to the streets at any hour of the day and night, leading to outright brawling, bar fights, and an uncomfortably high volume of inter-species tension. On top of that, the streets had been flooding with petty crime, and worse. 

In a bid to keep a lid on the tinder box of a city, the DEO were working double shifts to locate and isolate habitual alien offenders, while the police went after the most voracious hate-spewing human instigators, before either could do anything to cause the bubbling sea of agitation to erupt into full on rioting. Even the city’s resident hero hadn’t had a night off in over a week, flying around and intervening in even small scale incidents to try and maintain a sense of normalcy.

Shutting out the noise of the city for a few moments, Kara Zor-El allowed her eyes to drift to a familiar apartment building, honing in on the very top floor, letting her vision burrow through the large French windows and closed blinds into a modern, spacious living room.

Lena was sat cross-legged on the couch, wearing a tatty pair of tartan pyjama bottoms and off-white tank top. Her long hair was pinned on top of her head, and her feet were bare. The glow from her laptop illuminated her face, reflecting off the reading glasses perched on her nose. A nearly empty glass of red wine sat on the coffee table in front of her. Kara smiled wanly, wishing more than anything that she was there next to the woman, feeling her warmth.

As she stared, a figure entered her frame of vision, swaggering from the kitchen with a bottle in their hand. The glass next to Lena was refilled, and a body slumped on the other end of the settee, making the business woman jostle slightly. The newcomer spread out casually, saying something that made the brunette laugh. Kara didn’t bother tuning in to hear.

It had been two weeks, and Kara was no nearer to telling her girlfriend how she was feeling about Lena’s new employee. About her new friend, Kara’s subconscious reminded her unhelpfully.

The hero had tried; she’d gone straight from Alex’s bedsit to the penthouse apartment that the youngest Luthor called home, with full intention of expressing her concerns and, maybe, eliminating the threat once and for all. 

But when she’d said, carefully, “so, Tara...” Lena had interrupted, beaming, “She’s great isn’t she? I can’t believe how well we’ve gotten on. I mean, I know I’m paying her but I feel like even if I wasn’t her employer, we’d be friends, you know? If you can believe that - _me_! Making friends all on my own!” in such an optimistic and hopeful voice that Kara couldn’t bring herself to say what she had wanted to say; couldn’t bring herself to plant the seed in her lover’s head that Tara was most likely just one more person looking to get something from the Luthor heiress, whether it was money, knowledge or her beautiful body. 

Instead, the Super had forced a smile, and nodded along, and whenever Lena had recognised something was wrong in the following weeks, Kara had been able to brush it off as tiredness, or stress. 

Tara, meanwhile, was with the CEO every spare minute that Kara couldn’t be. She spent the working week at L Corp, escorting her boss home at the end of every day and picking her up again in the morning. On nights when Kara couldn’t escape Supergirl duties, the bodyguard would sleep at Lena’s penthouse, eating the dinner that Kara wasn’t able to, watching the movies and TV shows that Lena enjoyed in Kara’s place, and sleeping in the spare bedroom across the hall from the Luthor’s own, waking to carry out perimeter checks intermittently through the night. 

It seemed excessive to Kara’s mind, but when she’d suggested as much to Lena, the brunette had waved it off, saying that she enjoyed the company. Kara had tried to push further, but Lena had cut off any hope of rational thought by tactically dropping the very flimsy robe she’d been wearing at the time, and crawling seductively into bed.

“Supergirl, it’s all gone pretty quiet tonight. I think the news of the arrests has simmered things down for now.” Alex’s voice came across the heroine’s earpiece, breaking her train of thought. “Why don’t you head home and we’ll take it from here?”

“Are you sure?” Kara said hopefully. She heard her sister chuckle over the line. 

“Yes, jeez, take a night off. You’ve earned it.”

That was all the encouragement Kara needed. Ripping out her earpiece, she flew erratically to land in the grimy alley behind her girlfriend’s apartment building. Pulling out a bag stuffed with clothes that she’d taken to leaving wedged behind a broken air conditioning unit on the ground floor, she changed at double speed and all but ran to the front doors.

Security buzzed her straight through, as per Lena’s instructions. Leaping from the lift as soon as a human-sized gap opened up in the doors, she hurried to Lena’s front door, fumbling as she tried to get the key in the lock.

“Babe, I managed to get the-“

She saw the fist a millisecond before she managed to dodge it, leaping back far enough that the follow up knee didn’t get chance to connect.

“Whoa whoa it’s me!” Kara squeaked as Tara stamped down towards the alien’s ankle, her right hand sweeping up in a claw like motion at alarmed blue eyes. This, Kara had time to recognise through her panic, wasn’t like any kind of fighting she’d been shown at the DEO. There was no inefficiency, no showboating, and no chance for second-goes; this was the kind of fighting that you learn on the streets and in the gutter, the kind where only one person is walking away from the battle, and the body currently aiming to rip out your trachea is going to do anything possible to make sure it isn’t them.

Almost as soon as the reporter spoke, though, the woman recoiled, the look of laser focus in her eyes mellowing into a sheepish grimace as her hands and feet fell loosely to their usual resting positions.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry Kara! We weren’t expecting you, and I just reacted!”

The blonde barely had time to register the “we” before Lena appeared at Tara’s side, shoving passed to check her lover for injury. “Oh my god, darling, are you ok?”

Kara nodded dumbly. 

Tara looked mortified. “I really am sorry, Kara, I just...”

The reporter shrugged it off, finding her voice. “Don’t worry, it’s good to know that you’re so switched on.”

There was an awkward silence.

“So, uh, I managed to get the night off.” Kara said to break the silence. “I thought maybe we could hang out?”

Lena smiled widely. “That would be wonderful! Can you stay?”

Kara chuckled at the excitement in her lover’s voice. “Yep, all night baring any emergencies.”

The brunette clapped her hands together. “That’s amazing! I’ll order you some food!”

Next to them, the bodyguard cleared her throat. “Do you need me to be here?” She asked, her voice laced with concern.

Lena shook her head happily. “No, we’ll be fine. You can finally have a night to yourself.”

The black woman raised her eyebrows, glancing pointedly between Kara and her employer. “Are you sure?” She asked doubtfully.

“Yes, Tara, don’t worry. Go, enjoy yourself.”

Nodding half-heartedly, the butch allowed herself a small smile. “Well in that case, I have a hot date with a pair of running shoes and a punch bag.” 

Kara watched the other woman gather her things and leave from a place on the sofa, one arm thrown around the CEO’s shoulders, feeling uncharacteristically smug. 

“What’s this?” Kara asked later that night as they got ready for bed, holding up a letter that had been jammed between a case of flowers and a set of dog-eared foreign language dictionaries. Lena turned from where she was removing her makeup at the nightstand, the hand clutching a damp cotton wool pad hovering over her lips.

“Oh, someone sent it to me at L Corp. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about”

Kara looked incredulously at the printed A4 letter. “Lena, it’s a death threat. Someone’s sent you a death threat.”

The Luthor gave a unfazed shrug. “Well it’s hardly the first time.”

“How did it even get to you? Why didn’t the post room or Jess intercept it?”

The brunette hesitated. “It...it wasn’t posted. Someone left it on my desk.”

Kara dropped the letter back onto the side table, looking as though the paper had burnt her fingers. “They left it on _your desk_? Why didn’t you tell me? Did you report it to the police?”

Lena stood up and walked across the bedroom, pulling back the covers of the luxurious bed and sliding in. Calmly, she responded, “Yes, they did, but I’m sure it isn’t a cause for alarm. Both my security team and the police are looking into it, and we’ve beefed up the checks for people going in and out of the building. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to worry you, and besides, Tara is there all day - everyday to keep an eye on things.”

Kara frowned deeper, causing Lena to chuckle. “You see, you’re worrying now aren’t you? How about instead of standing over there driving yourself crazy over some idiot’s idea of a joke, you come over here and show me how well you can really take care of me.”

Kara reluctantly turned her back on the message and walked towards the bed, turning the lamp off as she climbed under the sheet. Delicately taking her lover in her arms, she placed gentle, lingering kisses at the woman’s hairline until she felt the human’s body relax into sleep. 

“I’ll always protect you, baby, against anything or anyone.” Kara whispered into the dark, as if daring the letter to disagree.


	4. Chapter 4

This far into the ocean, the stars smeared the sky like a dusting of crushed glass, reflecting on the pond-still surface so that a lazy watcher would struggle to discern which way was up and which way was down. On a normal night, there was nothing Kara would love more than to hang peacefully in the still, cool Atlantic air, and take in the beauty before her.

Now, though, she barely saw them, flying so fast that they were blended into mere lines, running along the tunnel of the sky and urging her to fly quicker, to be stronger.

“I shouldn’t have gone, I should have stayed in National City, I should never have left Lena.” Supergirl muttered as she flew, the words whipped away by the wind. 

The second that James had asked her to attend the International News Media Association conference in Helsinki, Kara had felt unease seed in her gut. How could she leave her girlfriend for a full week, less than 2 months after they’d been separated for so long? 

But the opportunity was too good to miss. It could be a career defining moment; a chance to get her name known away from the fashion spam and empty fillers that she’d been stuck writing for far too long. It was too much of a golden ticket to turn down - not that Lena would hear of that anyway.

“Oh darling, you simply have to go. I hate being away from you, but the conference will be attended by the biggest players in the industry. You have to be there!” The heiress has insisted when she found out, green eyes glistening with pride and excitement. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll have Jess and Alex, and all the others, and Tara will be by my side 24/7 - I couldn't get into trouble even if I wanted to.”

It had stuck in her throat, but Kara couldn’t argue with that. So she’d gone, and spent a surreal 48 hours bumping elbows with names she’d admired on bylines and blurbs for longer than she could remember, talking hours after the conference closed for the day about ethics in journalism, listening to others tell stories from their times reporting in war zones or hearing about how they had tried to change the world piecemeal with carefully investigation and skilful writing, trying desperately to quell the growing root of worry that was threading out through her veins, reaching like ivy back towards her homeland; her city; her lover.

On the third day, while walking down to breakfast, the TV in the hotel’s reception had been running a story that made Kara’s blood turn to ice: _Attack by armed group on Women In STEM charity fundraiser._

Lena’s charity. Lena’s fundraiser.

The news showed pictures of the huge, Art Deco meeting hall where the annual fundraiser took place with considerable sponsorship by L Corp, and which Lena never missed. This year, she was taking Tara along to act as both protector and date, much to Kara’s annoyance. As she sped passed the sound barrier, Kara swore that if anything had happened to the youngest Luthor, the bodyguard’s feet wouldn't touch the ground.

The coast line of the Eastern sea board appeared in front of the Kryptonian, and she pressed on, willing time to slow down so that she could get to Lena quicker.

It was only 10pm in National City; less than 20 minutes since the attack began. Dodging around a mountain at the last second and severely startling a grizzly bear that had been innocently minding its own business on the opposite slope, Kara felt tears bubbling up, and willed herself to keep it together just a little longer. 

Finally, after what seemed like millennia, the mountainous darkness underneath her became fields of light as the alien neared the edges of NC, and, seconds later, the towers and skyscrapers of the city proper appeared like guiding lighthouses, beckoning the Super to where she was needed.

Slowing down, Kara honed in on the hall, landing softly on the pavement outside, skirt flapping in the breeze blowing from a nearby police helicopter. The location was awash with flashing lights, sirens, people shouting, but mercifully, there didn’t seem to be any gunfire coming from inside.

“Where’s Lena Luthor?” She asked a nearby cop briskly, not finding time for pleasantries. At the sight of the hero, the young man visibly blanched.

“Supergirl! You’re here!”

“Lena Luthor,” the blonde prompted, “where is she?”

The cop pointed at the building. “She’s in there, but-“

Kara didn’t wait for him to finish, taking to the sky quick enough to knock the policeman’s hat off, and smashing through the flat concrete roof of the building as though it was made of bone china.

She landed in the centre of the main hall, the noise of the roof caving in around her sounding like mere pattering over the rush of blood in her ears, eyes already glowing with barely restrained heat vision, ready to destroy anyone who had placed a hand on her lover.

It took less than 3 seconds to realise her mistake. Her lover, Kara quickly realised, was standing near the bar with a look of horror on her face and a space blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders, barely a hair out of place in her ornate up-do.

At the sound of the collapsing ceiling, the police officers standing nearby had pulled their firearms, and rushed towards the intruder. Tara, meanwhile, and without a second of hesitation, had stepped close to her employer, diminutive frame seeming to swell and grow until she formed a human shield. 

“Supergirl?” Lena asked, peeking over the butch woman’s shoulder.

“Miss Luthor, are you...are you ok?” Kara asked, stuttering slightly. “I thought...I thought you might be in need of assistance.”

“I’m perfectly fine, and everything is under control, thank you, Supergirl.” The youngest Luthor said kindly, her worried eyes never leaving the alien’s face.

“No damage to either guests or building.” Tara smirked, eyes amused and her voice warm. “Well, until about 45 seconds ago.”

Around her, the police officers began to holster their weapons, grumbling slightly at the mess of bricks and concrete dust now covering the ballroom. Kara blushed slightly, trying to hold onto the famed Supergirl confidence a little longer. “Shall I escort you home, Miss Luthor?”

Lena twinkled. “No, thank you. I shall ask my security to take me home. I’m sure you’ll be needed _elsewhere_.” There was a note of suggestiveness in her voice that Kara couldn’t fail to miss, and that made her own stomach flip; it whispered the promise of _’later’_. The blonde’s ego never ceased to be boosted to find that even the smallest shows of power from her Super girlfriend could made the Luthor weak in the knees.

“Are you sure? It could still be unsafe.”

Tara cleared her throat pointedly. “I’ll keep Lena safe, Supergirl. No need to go out of your way.”

Kara blinked, suddenly becoming aware once more of their surroundings; at the other woman’s tone, she bristled. “Safe? Is that why she’s in the middle of a police cordon?”

The black woman raised an eyebrow. “I handled it.”

“Really?” The Kryptonian placed her hands on her hips, finding herself suddenly struggling to hold back the tide of anger that had been boiling in her stomach for the past few weeks. “What about the armed gang? What did they want? What happened to them?”

Without blinking, the woman replied in a cold voice, “ _I handled it._ ”

“It’s ok, Supergirl. My bodyguard was able to disarm the criminals involved and negate the threat before any harm was done.” Lena said in a soothing voice.

“All of them?” Kara asked, surprised in spite of herself, before continuing angrily, “It doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t have gotten to that stage. She should have taken you somewhere safe immediately, if I was here-“

“Supergirl!” Lena interjected sternly. “Might I have a word?”

Still glaring at the security woman, Kara nodded, stalking off towards a secluded corner of the ballroom. Lena handed the silver blanket to the policewoman who had been taking her statement, and followed her lover with a business-like air.

“What was that?” She asked as soon as they had a modicum of privacy. Kara huffed, refusing to meet her partner’s eyes petulantly. “Are you trying to give away your identity or what?”

“I don’t trust her to keep you safe.” Kara said sulkily, ignoring the second question entirely.

Lena’s brow furrowed. “Why? She’s done a fine job of it so far. She was very impressive tonight; she fought even better than Alex could have. That’s why your sister recommended her.”

Jealousy flared up again, white-hot. “Was she better than me?” Kara asked before she could stop herself.

“No, of course not. That’s not what I’m saying, but why are you being so hard on her? It isn’t like Tara was the one attacking the party.”

“I don’t trust her!” Kara said, louder than expected. Out of the corner of her eye, the Super saw the other woman glance up from her conversation with a tweed-suited police detective, an annoyed expression on her face.

There was a moment of awkward silence. “Are you...are you jealous?” Lena asked at last, hesitantly, as if she’d never asked a more ludicrous question before, as if the words felt wrong on her tongue.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I just...I don’t trust her. With you.” 

Lena sighed a deep, drawn out breath, closing her eyes. “Do you trust me, though?”

“Yes!” Kara rushed, without hesitation.

“And I trust Tara, because she has given me no cause not to trust her. And I love you. So I need you to take my word for it that you have nothing and no-one to live up to, or out do, and especially that you have nothing to worry about between Tara and myself. Can you do that?”

Kara nodded fervently, trying to silence the part of her mind that wasn’t at all sure she could do any of it. 

Slowly, Lena nodded, eyes never leaving the hero’s own blue irises. “Ok. I have to go finish with the police, why don’t you stay at mine tonight and I’ll meet you there when I’m done? We can talk some more?”

Resisting the urge to argue, Kara nodded, staring at her boots, before walking back towards the crowd still gathered around the bar area. Under the woman sized hole in the ceiling, a police photographer was enthusiastically taking photos of the damage to the roof and dance floor.

“Thank you for your help, Miss Luthor. I’ll be off now.” Supergirl said, raising her voice so that the rooms other occupants could hear.

“Try taking the door, this time.” She heard an English voice say smugly behind her back.

Clenching her fists, Kara remembered Lena’s earnest speech, and forced her feet to keep walking.


	5. Chapter 5

Kara’s eyes shot open, scouring the dark bedroom for what had woken her up.

She must have fallen asleep while waiting for Lena to come home. The reporter stretched happily, hearing the sounds of her lover moving around the penthouse. They still needed to talk, and it was going to be a long, painful, embarrassing conversation, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, it would be enough to hold each other, enjoying the touch and scent and taste of each other’s bodies.

The footsteps outside got closer to the bedroom, and Kara realised that she didn’t recognise the sound of the shoes at the same time as the door slammed back, and a figure rushed in, flicking the lights on and striding towards the wardrobe with determination.

“Get up. She’s been taken.” Tara said, ripping open the door of Lena’s large walk-in closet and disappearing inside.

“What?” Kara asked, blinking on the light stupidly.

The bodyguard strode back into the main room, flinging Kara’s super suit onto the bed, and dropping into a low squat to allow her to feel under the bedside table.

“Are you kidding me right now? Get dressed, Lena’s been kidnapped.” The woman fell onto her belly, pulling a torch from a hidden pocket inside her suit jacket and scanning under the bed. “I need Supergirl, and I need access to that shady government shit Alex is into, and I need both of those things yesterday.”

“You let someone take Lena?” Kara leapt out of bed. 

“She went to the bathroom, and never came out of the stall. I don’t know who has her or how they did it, but we need to get moving right now, so get dressed. Chop chop.” 

Tara was at the window now, running her palms gentally over the frames, eyes mere millimetres away from the glass.

Kara looked at the Super Suit, and back to the other woman. “I-“

“Look,” Tara said loudly, spinning round with her hands up in irritated warning. “We don’t have time for this secret identity bollocks, and we don’t have time for me to pretend I don’t know who you are. Just get dressed, and once all this is over you can Men-in-Black my memory or get me to sign some Official Secrets Act stuff, whatever you want. But not right now, ok?”

Swallowing, Kara nodded. “Ok. What are you looking for?”

Tara bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know. Bugs, cameras, anything that might give us a clue as to what’s happened.”

“Let me.” Kara said, her pyjama bottoms in hand and her skirt hanging loose on her hips, waiting to be zipped up. Scanning the apartment, she found nothing out of the ordinary. “It’s clean.”

Tara nodded, clicking off the torch and slipping it back into her suit. “So you do have your uses, then.”

Kara bristled, but held her tongue. All that mattered now was getting Lena back, and making whoever had taken her pay for it; if Tara could help her do that, she’d be her best friend if needs be until everything was resolved.

............................................................

The DEO was a hub of activity, despite the late hour. Agents moved quickly out of their way as the alien and the human strode purposefully towards the command centre, their steps in time and their faces equally grim.

“Supergirl?” 

Slowing to a stop, both women turned to see Winn Schott coming out of the staff canteen, a can of soda poised on its way to his lips. His eyes widened when he saw the Tara.

“What-what is Lena’s bodyguard doing here?” He asked, his expression one of shock. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he continued conspiratorially, “You know, here in this top secret facility that no one is supposed to know about?”

“We need her help. I need her help. Lena’s been kidnapped. Alex is on her way. Is J’onn here?” Kara said, not losing any time for preamble.

Winn nodded, pointing back towards the corridor that led away to the holding cells. “He’s downstairs.”

Kara nodded. “I need you to ask him to meet us in meeting room 5 right away, and tell Alex when she arrives. This is important, Winn. They have my girlfriend.”

The IT consultant’s eyebrows shot up, and he bobbed his head unsubtly towards the butch woman.

“It’s ok, she knows. I don’t know how she knows, but we’ll deal with that later.” Already striding away and beckoning the bodyguard to follow, Kara called over her shoulder, “meeting room 5, Winn, as soon as physically possible!”

The door to the meeting room had hardly closed before Alex burst in, looking stern and fierce in a way that filled Kara with confidence. J’onn followed on her heels, training his eyes suspiciously on Tara.

“Ms. Elliot, it is a surprise to see you again so soon. I must ask, how did you find out about this facility?”

Tara shrugged, lowering herself into an uncomfortable threadbare chair, and bringing her heels up to rest on the long meeting room table . “We live in a world full of information, just waiting for a curious person willing to dig below the surface. Willing to get her hands dirty.” She said cryptically.

“I told her.” Alex interrupted, at the same time as Kara shot out “I brought her”.

“Thanks for ruining my mystery, guys.” Tara sighed, rolling her eyes. Getting to her feet, the woman leaned on the table and looked J’onn in the eyes. “Look, Director, you have nothing to fear from me. You can read my mind. You _have_ read my mind. The only people who need to worry are the scumbags that have taken Lena Luthor, so unless you have something to hide, let’s crack on.”

There was a long minute, where all eyes were trained on the enigmatic Director, and his gaze never left the youngest woman’s face. Finally, J’onn nodded, gesturing for the group to take a seat.

“Ms. Elliot, I need you to tell us exactly what happened when Ms. Luthor was taken.”

Tara sighed. “We’d been giving our statement to the police, getting checked over by the paramedics, you know, the standard drill for these kinds of things. By the time we could leave, it was really late, and the place had almost emptied apart from some of the cops in the main hall and outside. Lena said she wanted to use the bathroom before we left, so I waited by the door for her, making sure no one tried to go in, you know? Anyway, 5 minutes went by, then 10, so I called her name, but no one answered. I was thinking maybe she’d fallen asleep in there or something, so I got down to have a look under the stall door and bam - no Lena. Just like that, she was gone. There wasn’t any sound, or movement from in the bathroom, there’s not even any windows in the damn room, no where for her to go. I kicked open the stall door, and I checked everywhere in case there were secret panels in the walls or the floor; I even tried to move the toilet in case there was a hidden passage or something. There was no way to get in or out of that stall without going through me. She’d just...vanished.”

“Why didn’t you just tell the police?” Alex asked, no hint of accusation in her tone.

Tara snorted. “You want me to trust PC Plod with my gaffer’s life when you’re up here on Big Knob Hill with all of that?” She pointed past the closed blinds to the control room, where technology more advanced than the human imagination could conceive beeped and whirred away. “Lena Luthor is too important for that.”

“Why?” J’onn asked. Both Kara and Tara looked at him like he had lost his senses.

“What do you mean why? She’s Lena Luthor.” Tara said incredulously.

“When did you come to be in Ms. Luthor’s employ?” J’onn asked, tactfully changing direction.

Tara leaned back in her chair. “Nearly 4 months ago now. I met Alex when she found herself in a spot of bother with some less than friendly off-world criminals, and she recommended me to Lena as private security. It was a happy coincidence.”

J’onn nodded, folding his hands on the table in front of him. “Of course. I remember that from when you permitted me to read your mind. I’m curious though; since then, we’ve been doing some digging of our own, and we can’t seem to find any record of you being in the United States before the day you met Agent Danvers.”

Tara’s face didn’t change. “It’s amazing how paperwork can just go walkabout. How is this helping us find Lena?”

“Ms. Elliot, I’m just trying to understand how a woman as high profile as Lena Luthor goes missing, and no one but you, who apparently didn’t exist until 14 weeks ago, is there to witness it.”

A silence spread around the table. Kara could feel panic rising in her chest.

“I don’t know, Director. That’s why I came to you. I need help,” Tara spat the word like a curse, “to find her, and bring those responsible to justice. I have a record of all the hate letters and emails, and threatening phone calls, from the course of the last 3 and a half months, but I need you to help me work out who is behind all this.” The woman reached again inside her jacket pocket and pulled out a small USB memory stick, laying it on the table between herself and J’onn J’onzz.

“What do you mean, all of them? There’s only been one letter.” Kara asked, frowning at the memory stick.

Tara shook her head. “Why do you think she finally caved and got a bodyguard, Kara? She’s been getting this shit for months now. Some of it scarily specific. One of them listed her itinerary for a full week, apparently taken from Jess’s computer. Lena’s been scared out of her wits, and she wouldn’t even tell you. Too concerned you’d worry your pretty little head sick if you knew.”

Kara smacked the table with the palm of her hand, leaving a print in the cheap wood. “I don’t believe you! How did you get into Lena’s apartment tonight? How do you know that I’m Supergirl?”

“Calm down, Kara!” Alex hissed. 

“No, Alex! She’s playing us! How do we know she hasn’t orchestrated the whole thing?”

The bodyguard jumped to her feet, already circling the table, arms held at her sides and ready to strike. “You have no idea what you’re talking about or what I’d do to protect that woman!”

“Uh...guys?” 

“What, Winn?” Kara hissed, without moving her glare from the woman stalking towards her like a caged tiger. 

“Totally don’t want to bust up whatever this is, but I thought this is important.”

“Winn, what is it?” Kara growled, squaring up as Tara got within spitting distance of her, Alex trying to surreptitiously wedge herself between them.

“Lena’s Friend Finder just updated.” Winn waved his I Phone at the group, all eyes now on him. “She’s in a church down town.”

“You have Lena on Friend Finder?” Alex asked.

“A church?” Kara said, ignoring her sister. 

“Yes to both of those questions.” Winn said primly. “I googled the building, and I’m pretty sure it’s being used by a cult called the Owners of the True World, who aren’t so keen on the direction Lena’s taking L Corp. They...uh...well they’re kind of racist, guys. They don’t like anyone not born on earth, and even then, they’re kind of picky.”

“What do they want?” Tara asked. Winn gave a half shrug. 

“Sir?” Agent Vasquez appeared in the doorway, looking solemn. “There’s a man at the main gate, claiming to be here to discuss terms for the release of Lena Luthor. He’s demanding to talk to Supergirl.”

Eyes narrowing, Kara cracked her knuckles. “Bring him in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day; verily, this fic is my catharsis right now.


	6. Chapter 6

The man was white, his skin almost translucent and the network of veins underneath showed blue just beneath the surface. His paleness contrasted strangely with his jet black hair and dark brown eyes, and the gaudy blue of his three piece suit. There was an oily quality to him, a fidgety, strange tension that didn’t match his unblinking eyes.

When Supergirl walked into the interrogation room with her sister in tow, the first words out of his mouth were “They’re making me do this. I didn’t want to do it. I just need the money.”

The alien didn’t answer at first, pulling out the chair opposite and sitting down slowly, clasping her hands in front of her, trying hard to resist the urge to scream or beg for information about her lover. She was panicking inside, a hollow, gaping, searing panic that had started as soon as she found out that Lena was gone, but letting this man know that would help no one.

“Who are they?” She said eventually, once the tension in the room was hot enough to bubble.

“The people who have the Luthor woman. They needed a message delivering and they sent me, but I’m not with them I promise.”

“Who are you with, then?” Kara asked, unblinking, choking down pure rage at the sound of her lover’s name in this creature’s mouth.

The man stuttered, mouth opening and closing helplessly. “M-myself. I...I’m in a bit of trouble and I needed cash. They said they’d give me $500 if I came down here.”

“Drugs? Gambling debt?” Alex asked, no judgement in her voice.

The man looked at his hands. “I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not a bad guy. I had a job, a good one, and a family. Nice house, clean car, the works. But the gear, man, it asks a lot of you, you know?”

Alex regarded him silently. 

“What’s your name?” Kara asked.

“David.” The man looked up again, his lips in a resigned grimace. “And I have a message for you.”

“From the Owners of the True World.”

David nodded. “They said they’ll kill the Luthor woman if you don’t follow what I say exactly.”

Alex placed a hand on her sister bicep as the hero went to get to her feet, half leaning across the desk towards the nervous man.

“You need to go to the church on Unter Street at 2pm today exactly, and they will give you a set of instructions. The list is to be completed in full, and by the strike of midnight tomorrow, or Lena Luthor dies. Only one of you can go; a human one. Anymore or less, they’ll kill her. You can’t have any kind of tracking or listening technology with you, none of that hidden camera business. If you do, they’ll kill her. You don’t complete the list, and-“ he made a gurgling sound, drawing a finger across his neck. 

“What do you mean a human one?” Supergirl said coldly, already knowing the answer.

The man looked pathetic, as if he would rather be anywhere else that in the chair, speaking the words he was speaking.

“Human, you know, like me. She can go,” he gestured quickly at Alex, “but not you. Or them.” He said, pointing at the two way mirror running along side of the room.

“Them?”

“Yeah, not the big guy or the other women. The, uh, the black ones. Or the Latina. The guys who sent me, they’re really, really bigoted. Like neo-nazi bigoted.” David squirmed under the women’s unrelenting gaze.

“Why do you think anyone’s behind there?” Alex asked in a noncommittal voice.

The addict shrugged, a faint smirk appearing briefly on his lips and a hint of pride entering his voice. “I saw them looking as you brought me in, saw their expressions. When you live the way I do, you learn to notice things. Especially people. This isn’t exactly my first rodeo, if you catch my drift.”

“You’ve been very helpful.” Kara said, quickly getting to her feet.

“Wait! I need to go back to them with your answer.” The man said quickly, desperation showing in his eyes.

“I’ll be there.” Alex said without hesitation.

“Agent Dan-“ the blonde began.

“I’ll be there.” She repeated. Gesturing to the mirror, she said loudly “Vasquez, give him a meal, take his prints and let him go.”

When David had been gratefully led out of the room, Tara stormed in, eyes aflame. “You can’t seriously be thinking about going there alone?”

“My thoughts exactly!” Kara hissed.

Alex folded her arms. “I absolutely am. What choice do we have?”

“I’ll go down there, break in, and snatch her away before they even know she’s gone.” Tara said firmly. “No fuss, no mess - in and out.”

“They managed to take Lena as if by magic, just made her disappear into thin air. These aren’t just regular nut-job terrorists; we have no idea what technology or intel they have, we have no idea what they want. If you go in there and get caught, that could mean both of you dead.” The agent said, jabbing her index finger for emphasis.

“I’ll go then.” Kara protested. “I’ll fly in, grab Lena, and fly us both out of there before anyone can do much as blink.” Tara nodded approvingly.

“What if they have kryptonite? What if you get in and lose your powers? What if Lena is strapped to explosives set to go off the second she’s moved, or if she isn’t even there anymore?” Alex sighed. “Look, I get it, you’re worried, but we need more to go on before we form a plan of action and the best way to do that is for me to go down there and see what they want.”

“Danvers, it’s too risky! Why would they send this man down here to deliver the message rather than just call it in? It’s suspicious, and I don’t like it.” Tara said, visibly annoyed. 

Alex snorted. “It’s part of the game, Elliot. They sent that poor guy as a power play, a way of showing that they have resources and they’re not afraid. Except, they wouldn’t have sent that messenger, some poor addict just trying to buy his next fix, if they were as confident as they’re pretending to be. They’d have come themselves.”

“You’re being stubborn!” Kara snapped, folding her arms.

“You bet your ass I am. I’m not folding on this. I’ll take it to J’onn if I have to.” Alex ran a hand through her hair in a stressed gesture before continuing. “Lena is one of us. She’s family. You both know that better than anyone.”

The other two women exchanged a heavy look.

“I don’t like it, Alex. I can’t lose my partner and my sister in one day. We’ll go with you, we can wait nearby without being seen.” The alien argued.

“No, you can’t. You two need to stay here with Winn. If there are any problems, I’ll give the signal, and you can come in and save the day.”

“You can’t take any comms devices,” Tara said sceptically, “so what on Earth is the signal?”

“The sound of a fuck lot of gunfire, and/or the roof caving in.” The agent said grimly.

“I don’t like this.” The heroine repeated, shaking her head. “I don’t like you charging into danger while I stand here helpless.”

“Everything will be fine. I just need you to wait while I go and see what they want.”

“And in the meantime?” Tara asked sulkily, obviously unhappy with the chain of events.

The elder Danvers smiled darkly. “In the interim, I think it’s time we got a few things out in the open.”

......................................................

“Alex, this is ridiculous. I’m not going to fight her.” Kara scoffed, looking around the battered training room, before coming to face her sister, hands on hips.

“Why not? It’s always helped us work out our differences.” Alex said.

“Because you’re my sister. I don’t want to hurt you. Whereas her...” Kara waved vaguely in the direction of the bodyguard, who chuckled. The butch woman had rolled up her sleeves and removed her tie, the fitted waistcoat hanging open casually. She looked annoyingly unconcerned by the turn of events.

Thrusting her hands in her pockets, Tara smirked, “You’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you? Or maybe you’re just scared.”

Kara snorted ungracefully. “Yeah, scared I’ll flatten you into a pancake and have to mail you home to your family.”

The other woman’s face hardened instantaneously. “Maybe you should be more worried about how we’re going to explain to Lena that you aren’t pretty anymore.”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Alex said, stepping between them. “No one is going to do either of those things, because firstly, I’m putting on the kryptonite emitters, and secondly, you will both be wearing pads.”

“I’m not wearing pads.” Tara and Supergirl said quickly, in unison.

“Yes, you are. This isn’t fucking Fight Club, it’s just to let you clear the air.” Alex said, moving to the door and retrieving the sets of boxing gloves she’d left just inside. Tossing a pair to each of the younger women, she waited patiently as they put them on, before walking to a control panel on the far wall and entering a complex code that filled the room with green light.

“Ok, I’ll come and get you before I have to leave. You kids play nice, now.” The agent called over her shoulder as the heavy iron door swung shut, leaving the two scowling women alone.

“This is absurd.” Kara said, shaking her head.

“Wow, you really won’t fight. No wonder your girlfriend wanted me around.” Tara smirked, looking pleased with herself.

The hero’s mouth fell open. “You’re...you...how can...that’s...”

Tara began to move, taking slow, precise steps sideways while nonchalantly adjusting the straps on her boxing glove with her teeth. “Articulate too, aren’t we?” She said, after a moment.

“Lena doesn’t need you around. I can protect her just fine.”

Tara raised an eyebrow, spreading her arms to gesture at the empty room. “Obviously.”

“You were meant to be with her! You were there, you were supposed to be keeping her safe!” Kara hissed, striding forwards with one glove pointed accusingly at the bodyguard. She got within an arms length before her extended arm was violently grabbed and used as a pivot to flip her bodily to the floor.

Winded, the alien rolled to her feet, glaring at her assailant.

“I was with her, and it’s tearing me up that I let her down. Maybe if you’d been there rather than stropping like a spoilt teenager, you could have done better.” Tara growled.

“You’ve spent weeks pushing my buttons.” The blonde said matter-of-factly, jabbing forwards with a solid fist as the other woman dodged.

“Yeah, and it was really fucking easy.” Tara said, pivoting low on the floor to sweep at the other woman’s legs. Kara jumped them, avoiding the fall, but caught a vicious uppercut to the sternum on the descent.

The heroine lurched, reaching for the other combatant, but she’d already danced back, bobbing on the balls of her feet. 

“Do you think I don’t know why?” Kara hissed.

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me, you seem to know so much.” The bodyguard said, dodging a roundhouse kick only to be clipped on the chin by the heel of the other foot. 

“Because you love her.” The alien grumbled, overreaching on a punch that allowed the bodyguard to slam her to the floor, knocking all the air from her lungs once more.

“What are we, 10 years old?” The black woman sneered, pacing backwards. “You just can’t believe that we don’t all want exactly what you have, what you are, can you? Egotistical little shit.”

The Super leapt to her feet, slamming her opponent heavily into the wall, punctuating her next words with body-shuddering gut-punches. “Just. Tell. Me. The. Truth!”

“Fine, you want to know? I _do_ love her. I love Lena Luthor; I’d die for her.” Tara hissed into the blonde’s face, her breathing ragged. “But not in a way you could ever understand. I love her because she’s one of mine, she’s part of my pack and you’ll never understand that.”

Kara blinked, loosening her grip slightly, and was so busy trying to make sense of what she’d heard that the knee landing squarely between her pelvis and belly caught her unawares, as did the head that connected with her cheek bone as she staggered backwards, trying to regain her balance. 

“Lena was the first person to give me a chance that I didn’t have to suffer for since I was 8 years old, and I’d do anything for her, but you - oh no, I saw it in your eyes, the first time we met. You wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire, up there on your high horse.”

“What are you talking about?” The hero shouted, one hand grasping for support on the opposite wall while the other nursed a split lip. “What the hell is your problem?”

Tara sagged to one knee, arms wrapping defensively around bruised ribs. “You, Supergirl. You’re my problem.” Kara went to speak, but the other woman cut her off. “I really fucking hate you.”


	7. Chapter 7

Supergirl’s brow creased in confusion, and she slumped heavily on the floor with her back pressed to the cold concrete wall. A few metres away, Tara sighed, allowing herself to lower the other knee to the floor.

“You hate me? Why? You barely even know me!” 

Tara nodded, slowly. It was a long, uncomfortable minute before she answered. “Do you know who I am, Kara Danvers?”

The heroine shook her head, bringing her shoulders up in a shrug.

“No? That’s because I’m no one. I don’t even have a proper name. Oh, I’ve been called a lot of things and some of them stuck longer than others, but Tara Elliott was just a name I saw on a magazine cover once, some random name that I borrowed because I liked it.”

“I don’t understand.” Kara said, resting her arms limply over her knees.

“When I was a little girl, no older than four, I was in a car accident. My parents died. I don’t remember much about them, except they were good parents, kind and funny, and they used to spoil me a bit more than they should have. I don’t remember the crash, but I do remember being lifted out of the car by hands that weren’t really hands - not like human’s have, you know? Sort of knobbly and scaly, not enough fingers or soft bits. It turns out my rescuer was a Ghavial. You’ve heard of them?”

Kara blanched. “Thieves and tricksters, criminals.”

The other woman smiled fondly. “That’s them. They’d sell their own mother for a dollar. As it turns out, I’d been ‘rescued’ by a gang of them who had floated in from Redshift 7 on a knackered ship and found planet Earth to be surprisingly lucrative.”

“What did they do to you?”

Tara raised her eyebrows. “Mainly, I was their eyes and their alibi. They had between 8 and 12 kids at any one time, all different species, so that they could use us if they needed an in with someone or if they needed a inauspicious look out. Once, they posted me through the toilet window of a betting shop to steal the cash register. They needed cute, innocent faces, and sneaky little hands.”

“You make them sound like Fagin.” Kara said quietly. The bodyguard’s face furrowed.

“Don’t know him.”

“No, I mean like in Oliver Twist.” Kara explained absently.

“Never met him either.” The butch said without a hint of guile in her voice. “Anyway, that lasted until I hit 12, and suddenly I wasn’t little enough or sweet enough to be much use as a plant or as a scout, so they taught me to fight. I mean, they’d taught us to hold our own before, just in case, but this was _fighting_. We made a lot of money on underground fights, and on acting as security for some less than above-board events. Things were going ok. Until you showed up.” Tara said, a hint of accusation entering her voice.

“Me? What did I do? I’m pretty sure I’d never seen you before that day in Lena’s office.”

“The last daughter of Krypton, standing there all proud, right in NC, just like that other berk in Metropolis. Suddenly aliens weren’t an unspoken secret anymore. Suddenly you’re there, putting down even the most harmless little swindle, and overnight, the more prestigious criminals wouldn’t touch Other-Worlders with a 10 foot pole.” Tara rubbed her hand over her cropped hair, wincing as she came into contact with a graze on the scalp. “I was human, but all my friends - my family - were aliens; we spoke none-Earth languages to each other and ate none-Earth food, so it didn’t matter what my DNA said - to them, I was just another E.T.”

“That’s not...I mean...it was a good thing, my coming out. I was making things better for us. I’ve made it acceptable to live in the light, openly.” Kara said, annoyed. 

Tara nodded. “Sure, and I’m sure it was great, for the people who didn’t need the dark. But you know what happens when you shove people like mine into the light? We get picked off. We couldn’t make a living the way we knew how, couldn’t afford food, got turned out of our shelters. There were 6 of us still banded together when you first put on that uniform, and within a year there was only 1.”

“What happened to them?”

“The usual. NC wasn’t safe anymore, so they scattered. I know at least 2 of them are dead now, taken out by some of the real nasty types, the kind who prey on poor kids hitting rock bottom. The other 4 of us...well, we were suddenly untouchable in the underworld, and we could barely make ends meet working the kinds of above-board jobs that don’t ask questions or want to see papers. So I...” Tara hesitated.

“You what?” The Kryptonian asked suspiciously.

“We needed money. The scavengers were knocking at the door, demanding we pay them to ‘keep us safe’, we had no food, and we were living in a damn coal house behind this abandoned factory. I was the oldest, I was 21, I was a grown up. I had two 14 year old kids and an 18 year old woman depending on me, and I only had one skill - fighting. So I went to the one place I was sure I could make a quick buck: Veronica Sinclair. She was holding these bare knuckle fights, alien vs. alien. I was a bit of a draw; a human who would fight any off-worlder put in front of her. It wasn’t hard; I’d grown up training and sparring with guys from god-knows-where, I’d learnt their weaknesses and their tells. But it made the house a lot of money from lost bets.”

“You killed other people for money?” Kara asked horrified.

Tara spat on the floor, wiping the back of her mouth with her hand. “I never killed anyone. I beat them up, but what do you think they were there for? They wanted to kick my head in just as much as I did theirs. That’s what you don’t understand, what you can’t understand. Between you and your cousin, you threw us out of our little cubby holes and right to the wolves. We might not have been respectable before, but once you came along, the only way to survive was tooth-and-nail.”

Kara looked conflicted. “I tried to help people. I closed down the fight club because it was the right thing to do.”

Grunting with the effort, Tara struggled to her feet, clutching her abdomen where Supergirl’s punches had connected. Carefully, she slunk across the floor, falling heavily to sit parallel to the heroine.

“I know. But you don’t think, you do-gooders, when you do this stuff. And why would you? When I got taken from my home, when I lost everything, I learned the value of surviving. Lena did, too, in her own way.”

The blonde looked up sharply. “What?”

The black woman held up a conciliatory hand. “Calm down, my ribs can’t take another round, and your sister is already going to chew me out for what I’ve done to your face. Lena lost her mum, and got ripped away from everything she knew and cared about, and she may have got wealth and privilege in return, but she had to learn to survive just as quickly as I did. You, on the other hand, you lost your family, your home, and you got _everything_. You got love, and support. You got told that you could do anything you set your mind to, and you _did_.”

They sat in companionable silence for a long time, the animosity that had existed between them shifting and twisting and changing its shape.

“Is that why you hate me? Because you think I made your life difficult?”

Tara sighed. “My life was already difficult. I hated you because you got everything I wanted, twice over, and it made your outlook so bloody black and white. So fairy tale. You started saving those you saw as good from the bad men and the evil aliens, and suddenly those of us in the middle, those of us who didn’t fit into one or the other, we were out on our arse. It felt like I was struggling to try and keep things ticking over, to try and keep my family out of the cess pit, and you were flying around and saving the world for everyone but _us_.”

“I’m sorry.” The Kryptonian said, her voice sounding very small.

“Don’t be a cretin, you’ve done nothing wrong.” The butch said matter of factly. “Not intentionally. I should be apologising to you. I guess I’ve been so angry for so long, and I was...jealous. Of you. And...I guess I blamed you for dross like Veronica Sinclair and Lillian Luthor picking my kind off like rats.”

“Lillian?” Kara asked breathlessly, her chest tightening.

Tara nodded. “Cadmus took Lumeria, my friend. My last friend. I don’t know how or why. I tried to get help, to report her missing, but no one official wanted to know. Thank christ we’d managed to get the twins into a safe house a few weeks earlier, or they’d have taken them too. I heard a rumour about this place a few months ago,” she waved vaguely at the room around them, “and I figured I didn’t have anything left to lose. I was coming to throw myself on the DEO’s mercy when I found Alex and a few others in the street outside, getting the shit kicked out of them.”

“If Lillian took your friend, why did you...you didn’t...” Kara began, stumbling over how to ask a question.

“Did I agree to start working for Lena to get to her mother? To hurt her? For revenge?” The woman leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think I did it because your sister asked me to.”

“Alex?” Kara’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, you like my sister! That’s...does she know?”

“No. And you can’t tell her!” Tara said quickly, jumping at the suggestion, suddenly looking very much her age. For the first time since they’d met, the alien didn’t see a rival, or her nemesis; she saw what was in front of her: a woman barely into her twenties who had known nothing but anger, and fear, and struggle for longer than she could remember. 

At the woman’s horrified expression, though, Kara couldn’t help but laugh, loud and heartily, falling sideways into the other woman, who slapped her hard on the bicep. “I mean it, Kara, you can’t tell her!”

“I bet that’s how you passed J’Onn’s test, I bet he got as far as you fancying his Earth-daughter and couldn’t bear to look any more.” The hero gave into another fit of giggles.

“I...that’s not true. I wouldn’t dream of thinking anything inappropriate about Alex.” The woman said primly, looking flustered, causing another bout of uncontrollable laughter.

As the chuckling subsided, Kara wiped her eyes, and huffed out a long breath. “We need to stop whatever this is between us. The anger.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to need you to stop trying to make me jealous, because it’s hurting us both, and it’s hurting Lena.”

Tara nodded. “I’ll try. Just...if you can try and be a bit less obvious in your disdain for me, that might help.”

“I’ll try.” Kara agreed placidly, not seeing any point in denying it. “J’Onn will want to ask some more questions. How you knew I was Supergirl, what happened to your friend, whether you were involved in Lena’s kidnap.”

“I wasn’t. I meant what I said; I love Lena, just like I loved Lumeria. She’s like a sister to me, and I’d do anything to protect her. But I’ll answer whatever he wants to know, whatever you want to know, once we’ve gotten Lena back.”

“Ok.” Kara pushes her hair out of her face. “Once we get her back. And then we’ll see about getting your friend too.”

“Jesus, what the hell happened?” Alex cried, rushing into the room and dropping to a crouch in front of the two younger woman. Taking her sister’s face gingerly in her hands, she looked angrily between them. “I told you to work your differences out, not go full a Death Match!”

“Relax, we’ve come to an understanding.” Kara said, leaning on the agent to get to her feet, before turning to pull up her opponent. 

“Yeah, we’re on a truce.” Tara said, giving the Super a half smile.

Alex shook her head. “I swear, one of these days you’re going to push me too far.”

“Which one of us?” Kara asked cheekily.

“Either or!” Alex retorted, pushing them towards the door. “I’m leaving in an hour, so you both need to get some food and get cleaned up, I need you prepped and ready if this shit goes south.”

The reminder of what lay ahead was sobering, sitting heavily over the three women as they stumbled towards the canteen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know several people wanted to see Kara just flatten Tara into a treacle-like substance, but I just don’t see Kara as that type of person - I’m sorry if you were one of those wanting the smushing.


	8. Chapter 8

Alex looked different, and Kara knew why. Gone was her big sister persona, gone was the banter and the cheekiness and the exasperation that she wound like silver thread through her everyday personality. It had been replaced with a shell that was all business; a firmness that suggested power, and dominance, and steel cold precision.

She was wearing dark jeans and a white and black checked button up, the top 3 buttons undone so that it lingered just the right side of indecency. Over the top was thrown a dark leather jacket, hanging open. She looked, to Kara, indomitably fierce. Glancing over at Tara, the Super felt her furrowed brow relax for a minute second as she saw the longing written clear in her face, deep brown eyes never leaving the lithe agents figure. It was amazing, she thought to herself, that she had never seen it before, the young woman’s longing getting lost in the fog of Kara’s jealousy.

“Agent Danvers, I hope you know what you’re doing.” Director J’onzz said, his voice gruff, only his tense jawline betraying the concern he felt.

“Yes, sir.” Alex said formally, reverting to type in the face of undeniable risk. “Lena Luthor is one of our own; we don’t leave them behind.”

The tall man nodded, looking prideful. “Very well. We will be here when you get back. If there are any problems, make as much noise as possible; Supergirl will be listening.”

Kara grabbed her sister’s forearm and squeezed, eyes boring into the older women’s head, trying to communicate without words everything she was holding inside. 

“I’ll be back.” Alex said firmly, turning to leave, grinning at the joke. Turning to Tara, she pointed an accusing finger. “You - stay.”

The butch woman rolled her eyes dramatically, throwing her hands up into the air. “I’m not a bloody border collie.”

“Good girl.” The agent smirked, winking. Tara stuttered, watching the elder Danvers’ back retreating.

“Agent Schott,” J’onn J’onzz boomed across the command centre, “I want to the view from every camera within a 5 block radius of that church, and I want to follow Agent Danvers every move from the minute she gets to the DEO until the millisecond she goes inside.”

Winn hit a few buttons on the keypad, the mass of screens covering one wall lighting up with mixed quality CCTV pictures, showing the run down old church from every angle, and the streets surrounding the DEO.

“Already on it, boss.” Winn grinned. Kara sucked in a breath as behind him, a HD Alex climbed onto her motorbike, pushed on her helmet, and rode away.

“She’s going to be ok.”

Looking to her left, she saw Tara, picking at the permanent callouses that covered the pads of her palms, looking utterly unaffected. The woman had lost her waistcoat somewhere, and her shirt was open enough that Kara could see the off-white vest underneath. Her trousers, the hero noticed now, were too big and bunched up where a cheap belt held them in place. 

“I know.” The alien nodded quickly.

“I mean it. She’s going to be ok, and then we’re going to get Lena back. This time next week we’ll all be back to getting right on each other’s tits.”

Kara nodded, turning back to the screens flickering behind her. “Yeah, I know.” She repeated quietly.

..........................................................

The church was a fifties concrete monstrosity, just a square box with a crumbling slate roof and grey pebble dash on every outer wall. It stood alone on the street, surrounded by the ruins of factories stripped to their foundations, and empty plots where once stood busy warehouses.

“Why do bad guys always have to pick the creepy places?” Alex muttered, pulling her bike into the lee of a half smashed wall across from the main door, avoiding the glass and rusted bits of metal that littered the overgrown pavement. Pulling off her helmet, she placed it behind the bike, slightly hidden in the weeds growing there, and swaggered towards the entrance to the church with a confidence she didn’t feel.

The door was closed and locked. She knocked on the peeling paint, but from inside there was only silence. Taking a step back, the woman looked with narrowed eyes at the rusting bars on the windows and the broken panes beyond.

She was just about to start waking around the building, looking for another way in, when the door in front of her gaped open into a purple-blue portal roughly the size of coffee table. Two sets of pale hands reached out, grabbed Alex by the shoulders, and yanked her through before she could cry out.

Without a second to spare, the aperture shrank to a pin point and closed without a sound, leaving just the dandelions that had grown tall around the front step waving in an unknown breeze. 

...............................................................

“What the fuck?” Alex crowed as she hit the floor, rolling into a crouch with her hands held defensively in front of her.

The room she was in was dim, the only light coming from candles held at the end of each pew. Rows of the wooden benches disappeared into the dark on either side of where she stood, a smell hanging in the air that reminded her of her college days: sweat, and stale booze, and faded incense. 

Around her, the silhouettes of many people became apparent, lounging on the uncomfortable seats or standing in the aisles. Directly in front of her, a man stepped into a patch of yellow glow. He was about 60, with silver-grey hair and a kindly smile. On the lapel of his navy suit jacket, there was a little red badge. Alex felt her mouth run dry when she realised it showed a black swastika.

“We’re so sorry for the theatrics at the front door. I’m sure you understand our desire to be cautious. I’m so glad that you followed our advice and came alone.”

“Who are you?” Alex hissed, watching the other figures moving closer in increments out of the corner of her eyes.

“We are the Owners of the True World, protectors of the human race, and my name is Samuel Edmundson.”

“Protectors of the human race?” Alex scoffed.

Samuel smiled wanly. “Those elements that deserve protecting, at least. And who are you?”

“Agent Alex Danvers. I got your message.” The woman said, biting back her anger.

“Excellent.” Samuel clapped his hands together. Next to the agent still bent low to the floor, two more white men in suits loomed out of the dark. “I expect you would like to see our mutual friend, and then we can get down to business.”

The older man gestured towards the woman to follow him, the goons who had lumbered out of the shadows closing her in between them and matching her every step. 

The back of the church was lighter, daylight falling through a hole in the roof and lighting up the dais. The alter had been adorned with a flag, bright red and with white writing sewn into the fabric, but Alex didn’t pause to see what it said because there, sat cross legged in a pair of overlarge dungarees and looking utterly exhausted, was Lena Luthor. Wrapped tightly round her waist like an unfashionable belt, there were black gaffer-taped sticks of Acme-looking explosives.

The woman’s face didn’t change when she saw her sister-in-law, the mask of polite, slightly exasperated ignorance holding firm, even while her fingers clenched the cold stone step she was sat on a little tighter.

Behind her, David was lying stock still, his skin sallow and yellow.

“I thought I told you to toss the druggie out.” Samuel growled behind him, before turning to give a friendly smile to the woman standing behind him. “Here we are, Miss Luthor, safe and well.”

“You ok, Luthor?” Alex asked with a quirk of her chin.

“Just peachy, thank you. Waiting patiently to find out what on Earth is going on.” Lena said, with an unsubtle glower at her captor.

Samuel chuckled warmly. Behind Lena, David’s limp body was hauled up and dragged away, his feet bouncing along the floor. A shoe fell off, and was left there, it’s occupant in no condition to retrieve it.

“What happened to him?” Alex asked.

The old man shrugged as if it was of no consequence. “The man is a drug addict. He has no further use to society. Once we’ve taken care of the species problem, we can start sorting that mess out.”

“Enchanting little world view you have there, Mr Edmundson.” The CEO said, inspecting her nails. Alex could see from where she stood they were broken and torn, dirt encrusted under the jagged edges. She’d lost the skin off both sets of knuckles, and Alex felt her heart twinge as she realised how the youngest Luthor must have battled her kidnappers, to no avail. “Can we get to the ransom part so that I can get out of here?”

Samuel looked nonplussed. “Ransom? Oh, Miss Luthor, no! We aren’t some common criminals. We’re here with a purpose! A purpose you and Agent Danvers will help us fulfil.” 

“What would that be?” Lena asked nonchalantly, one eyebrow raised.

“The portal you experienced on your way in here; the Exousia Window. Quite a genius little design, handed down to us from our friends at Cadmus.” The man chuckled, seeing Lena wince infinitesimally at the name. “Oh, I know what your thinking, dear, but your mother was, for once, not involved. It seems she thinks we’re somewhat beneath her. I suspect she might be rather,” he lowered his voice as is discussing something insanitary, “liberal, in some respects.”

“Let me guess, you want me to build you a trans matter portal so you can carry out whatever nefarious plan you have in mind.” Lena said, boredom dripping from every word.

“This sounds familiar.” Alex muttered.

“Oh dear, I must apologise, ladies; it seems I haven’t quite explained myself properly. The Exousia Window isn’t like the primitive portal you were co-opted into building for the Daxamites. It’s much more unique, and quite miraculous. You see, the window doesn’t need a twin to link to, it can be used to get to wherever your imagination desires in the blink of an eye.”

Alex snorted. “Yeah, ok.”

“Ah, a sceptic!” The old man grinned like a school boy, excited to show off a magic trick. “Daniel, could you be so good as to bring in one of our guests. The blue woman will do nicely.”

A man wearing over-size combat trousers and a tight white t-shirt over his bulging muscles jumped on hearing his name, and hurried across the dais, disappearing into a hidden doorway behind a tattered curtain.

While they waited, Samuel rocked on his heels, smiling at the two women as if they were slightly curious house guests. From his pocket, he took a small black box, like a car key, and began to twiddle it in his fingers. Lena’s eyes widened enough for Alex to understand what the man was playing with: the detonator that controlled whether the heiress lived or died.

When the younger man, Daniel, returned, he was dragging a girl roughly behind him. She looked no older than 20, with very long grey hair and skin that was a sky blue so pale that at first glance she appeared white. There was a cut running from her hairline down to her chin, welding the left eye shut with dried, bottle-green gunk.

“Hello, my dear. I expect you’re hungry? Well, we have a nice surprise for you today. We want to show out friends the power of your little device. If you do it, you can eat today. If not...” Samuel clicked his tongue, waggling the detonator at her before slipping it into a hidden pocket in his blazer.

The blue woman glanced at Alex with an expression of undiluted hatred, but nodded all the same. Giggling, Samuel leaned close to her ear, and whispered something. From the gloom, unseen hands passed forwards a flat, oval piece of glass, shining a delicate turquoise, and no bigger than a coaster.

Closing her eyes, the girl began to sway slightly, mumbling almost mutely. Alex shook her head; the sound, though quiet, seemed to swell and vibrate into the space around them, making the air feel fuzzy and tangible. Looking to Lena, Alex saw the brunette’s shocked expression as she pressed her hands over her ears, then her eyes, then, stupidly, her ears again. Their eyes met for a brief second, before the sound of a round, hard object clattering at Alex’s feet broke the moment.

On the ground, her motorbike helmet rolled in circles. The blue woman pulled her arms out of the glass oval, that was now the size of a human’s torso, and glittering purple. As they watched, it shrank down until it fitted neatly in Samuel’s hand once more.

“Now do you believe me?” He asked smugly, popping the trinket into his trouser pocket.

“What the hell was that?” Lena shouted.

“Don’t blaspheme!” The man’s face turned furious for a brief moment, before relaxing into a grandfather-warm smile again. “The Exousia Window is God’s miracle, and it is going to help us rid the world of the alien invaders once and for all.” He hesitated, gazing for a long second at the grey haired woman currently staring at her feet in front of him. “Except the useful, of course. Oh, don’t look so disgusted, it isn’t like we’re going to kill them. We’re Christians, we would never do something so vile. No, we’re just going to round them up and send them...somewhere else.”

“Cut to the chase.” Alex spat. The way the man was speaking, the whole set up in the stinking, claustrophobic building, was setting her teeth on edge. All she could think about was getting out of there with Lena, and finding a way to finish the Owners permanently.

“Indeed.” Samuel sighed sadly, and clicked his fingers. “Young people today, you show them a miracle and they want to know the catch.”

Daniel shuffled forwards, his hand still clamped tightly around the blue alien’s skinny bicep, and pressed a cigar shaped metal tube into his leader’s hand.

“In here is the recipe to make a duplicate of the Exousia Window we already have in our possession. You will find the items in here in the exact quantities listed by midnight tomorrow, or I will kill a Lunitha. For every hour that you do not return with each and every one of these ingredients, we will kill another Lunitha.” Alex glanced at the woman standing forlornly between the two men. “You’re wondering, I think Agent Danvers, how many captives we have. I will tell you; we have 465 of this woman’s species. That is, to our knowledge, every last one on this planet. We need them to power the Windows we will create, but believe me when I tell you that less than 10 will suffice.”

“You are _monsters_.” Lena growled.

Samuel shook his head. “We are your saviours, Miss Luthor. You’ll see that in the end.”

“I’ll get you what you need,” Alex said, ignoring the horrified expression that crossed the other females’ faces, “but Lena’s coming with me.”

Samuel held his hands up, shaking them to the ceiling in a show of over-zealous faith, laughing with obvious joy. “Fantastic! Of course, of course! You absolutely shall have Miss Luthor back!” Alex took a step forward, but a warning hand landed on her shoulder, the unseen figure holding her firmly in place. “Just as soon as she’s built me my Windows.”

Alex shook the hand off, her eyes never leaving the brunette glaring angrily at her captor. “Why do you need Lena? Why don’t you just get the Lu...”

“Lunitha.” Samuel said helpfully. “The Lunitha are the power sources of the Window; they are the operators and the navigators. They can’t build them though, only their priests retained that knowledge, and they are long since dead. We’ve analysed a sample from one of the devices so we understand the composition, but the manufacture...well, that is going to require genius beyond our skill sets.”

Alex looked again at her sister-in-law, and saw the woman give an imperceptible nod, a flicker of the eyelids that could conceivably be a wink.

“Ok.” The agent said in a miserable yet steady voice.

“Excellent!” Samuel said, pressing the tube into Alex’s one hand while grasping to shake the other. “By my reckoning, you have 32 hours left. Tick tock.”


	9. Chapter 9

When Alex Danvers sauntered into the command centre of the DEO, she found it in uproar. J’onn was looking increasingly harassed while being shouted down by an infuriated Supergirl, and was simultaneously trying to calm down the angry Kryptonian and barking orders at Winn, who was irately tapping at several keyboards at once. Near the opposite entrance, Agent Vasquez was trying to bodily restrain Tara from leaving; the younger woman was shaking with the strain of not fighting back. Around them and between them, operatives either stood looking awkward and unsure, or ran around with no apparent purpose or destination.

Alex put her hands on her hips, sucking her lips into her mouth as she took in the mayhem in front of her. She’d only been gone for 35 minutes. 

“Hey!” The Danvers hollered, trying to be heard over the din. “Whats going on?”

The room went silent for less than a heartbeat, before everyone started speaking at once; Alex suddenly found herself in a mob of people, asking questions and trying to check her over for bodily harm.

“Agent Danvers,” J’onn called, silencing the ruckus, “it’s good to have you back. Can we reconvene in my office?”

Alex looked surprised, but nodded. As she began walking, her sister fell into step with her on the left, and Tara scuttled along beside them on the right, trying to keep up with their long strides. She winked at them in turn, trying to ease the concern etched in their faces.

At the door to his office, the director frowned. “Supergirl, Miss Elliot, I need to speak with Agent Danvers _alone_.”

Kara opened her mouth to argue, but Alex placed a soothing hand on her forearm, before following her superior inside.

Watching them go, Kara bit her lip nervously, fighting her conscience. Giving in, she stepped surreptitiously to one side and leaned against the wall, allowing her hearing to extend outwards and into the office behind her.

“We were all quite worried, seeing you disappear into that portal.” She heard J’onn’s voice say, the cadence that came with his Director persona falling away. “I’m glad you’re ok, Alex.”

“You and me both.” The woman agreed with a smile in her voice.

“Did you find out what this group wants for the release of Lena Luthor?”

There was a pause, the sound of shuffling, and a clink as of a metallic object being placed on a wooden table. 

“Their demands are all in here; they want every item by midnight tomorrow, or they’re going to start killing hostages.”

“Hostages plural?” J’onn asked, confused. “I thought they only had one!”

Kara heard her sister sigh, downhearted. “I wish that were true. I saw at least one, a Lunitha, and they indicated that they have hundreds more. They’re using them to power some kind of portal - the one you saw them use to drag me into the church. I suspect that’s how they kidnapped Lena without Tara even realising. They need these ingredients to make replicas, and they’re going to use Lena to build them.”

“The Lunitha are peaceful people, secretive and wary of trusting others with their culture. I can’t imagine them giving up any of their technology willingly.” The black man said softly.

“Judging by what I saw, there was nothing willing in any of it. I don’t like it, but I think we need to comply with their demands until a moment presents itself to shut them down.”

There was a hum, and the sound of a cap being unscrewed from its casing.

“Black onyx, Thorium-233, cadmium, silicon-carbide conduct- Jesus, Alex, we can’t hand this stuff over to a terrorist organisation.” 

“I know it looks bad, but I was there and I think Lena has a plan.” Alex said, a tinge of desperation in her voice.

“You _think_ She has a plan?” Scepticism dripped from J’onn’s every word. “Are you really asking me to hand the ingredients to make god-knows-what to the Owners of the True World based on a hunch?”

Kara could hear her sister begin to pace, following the familiar footfall with growing concern.

“We don’t have another option J’onn. They’ve strapped Lena up to enough TNT to take out half a block, and there are hundreds of innocent people that they are willing to kill just to make a point. If we go in heavy handed, we _will_ lose. If we do nothing, we _will_ lose. I’m not willing to do that, J’onn.”

The bickering carried on for a few moments, but Kara could hardly focus over the rising tide of panic that bloomed in her lower guts, sizzling its way up into her chest, into her throat. The image of Lena, trapped with these people and tied to the means to shatter her fragile human body - it was too much, and too overwhelming. The urge to just jump out of the nearest window and fly to rescue her lover was almost too much to bear. 

“What are they saying?” 

The hero looked to her left, blinking away tears. Tara took in a deep, whistling breath at the sight of the Super’s face. “That good, eh?”

“They’ve put in a list of demands, all kinds of things that they need to make some kind of portal. J’onn doesn’t want us to do it.” Kara whispered, her voice choked. “I think we’re on our own; if he forbids Alex to help I can’t guarantee she won’t listen to him.”

The bodyguard nodded, slowly, sucking the inside of one cheek. “Ok. But what are _we_ going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Kara said honestly, glancing back at the wall to the Director’s office; inside, Alex was leaning on J’onn’s desk, jabbing her finger at the paper that lay between them angrily. The Martian looked sorrowful, but unmoved. 

“Do you know what they need to get?” 

“No, I can’t read the paper from here.” Supergirl shook her head. 

“But we’re getting the stuff they asked for, are we?” The younger woman asked pointedly. 

Kara nodded, her expression setting into resolution. “Alex said she thought Lena had a plan. I trust my girlfriend, and I trust my sister - we’re going to get these...”

“Bastards?” Tara offered helpfully.

“...what they want, and take it from there. I just need to find a way to get that list.” The blonde finished, craning once again to see into the office.

“Right you are.” The bodyguard grinned, and, carefully placing her hands on the alien’s shoulders, moved her a few feet to the right. Then, ignoring the other woman’s questioning expression, she walked to the end of the corridor, opening the window as far as it would go, and peered out.

Walking back towards the confused Kryptonian, she gave a thumbs up. “Do us a favour, just stand there and don’t move for a bit. I’ll meet you at the Irish bar on Buda Street in, say, twenty minutes.”

“What are you-“ Kara began, but her sentence was cut off by the younger woman barging the Director’s door open with a loud clatter. There was a shocked shout from the room’s occupants, and then a small body thundering out of the office, dodging around the startled superhero, and out of the open window. A moment later, Martian Manhunter flew out of his office, colliding with his colleague who was still stood, speechless, where she had been left.

They ended up in a crumpled heap under the window, struggling to get to their feet. In the street outside, two floors down, there was no sign of the thief.

“Supergirl, if I find out you had anything to do with this-“ J’onn growled.

Kara held up her hands, shock written all over her face. “I didn’t, I swear!”

Alex stepped up alongside them, eyes glinting at her sister. “J’onn, they don’t even get on, there is no way Kara could have known what Tara was going to do.”

Eyeing the two women, the man harrumphed and stomped away, calling for agents to find the escapee. Kara looked at her sister.

“I’m stepping out for lunch.” The hero said, conversationally. “I’ll be at Dunne’s Pub in Buda Street, in about twenty minutes, if anyone wanted to join me.”

Alex nodded, eyes narrowing, biting her lip in thought. “Yeah, I could eat.” She said after a long minute.

.....................................................

The bar was dingy, sticky, and almost empty, the lone bar tender hurrying to get things ready for the post-work rush so that he hardly even glanced up to see who had entered when Alex arrived.

Alex saw her sister and the young bodyguard sat close together in the far corner, heads nearly touching as they poured over the long and detailed list that Samuel had given her. Kara had changed into cream slacks and a yellow button-up, making her considerably less obvious than she would be in the usual cape and suit combo. Without signalling her arrival, the agent picked up one of the empty hard-backed chairs from a neighbouring table and sat down with the two solitary patrons, her elbows resting on her knees.

“So, what’s the plan?” She asked after a few minutes of being ignored.

Tara looked up, smiling. “Ah, wasn’t sure you’d make it, Danvers.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Well, if I’m going to tank my career, it might as well be for a good cause.”

Kara placed a hand on her older sister’s forearm and mouthed a sincere ‘Thank You’. The agent nodded, patting the hand.

“It’s good of you to offer, but no tanking will be required. We’ve divvied up the list. The non-earth stuff, I’m going to get from some of my...associates; the Earth ones are up to Kara. We need you at the DEO, in their good books so that you can keep them off our tail. And we’re going to need you to make the final drop, of course.” Tara said.

Alex looked perturbed. “I want to help.”

“That’s the best way you can help, Alex.” Kara said quietly. “You’re our woman on the inside.”

The agent still looked unhappy about it, but she acquiesced. “Ok. I’ll do whatever you need me to do, just...be careful. Both of you.”

“Always.” Kara said, her voice firm as she leaned in to give her sister a lopsided side-hug. Tara leaned over and tentatively rubbed the agent’s back, trying and failing to look unflustered. 

They discussed a little further how Supergirl would get the various Earth gems and chemicals on the list (“She’s going to rob ‘em”, the English woman had helpfully supplied), and some of the technical specifications for the extraterrestrial components needed, but there was little more they could do, and the longer they talked, the more they grew concious of the precious seconds ticking by.

As they walked to the door, the alien felt a hesitant hand tugging her backwards. Turning, she was faced with a very sheepish looking Tara, running a hand through her buzzcut and frowning at her shoes.

“What?” Kara asked, slightly stiffly but not unkindly. She still felt the tinge of resentment in her gut towards the younger woman, but was adamantly holding it inside until she had Lena safely back in her arms.

“Look, Kara, I-uh...I know I don’t have the right to ask you this, with everything going on, but the people I’m going to see to get this stuff aren’t nice people. If anything happens to me...”

“You want me to come to the rescue?” The heroine asked, trying to make eye contact with the other woman.

“No. I absolutely don’t - screw that, I’m not important - you need to get Lena and stop these fascist pricks.” Tara said, horror littering her tone. “But...afterwards...I’d really appreciate it if you could keep looking. For Lumeria. You remember? My friend?”

The blonde sighed a large breath out through her nose. “I remember.”

“Lena was doing some digging for me before everything happened. I was hoping maybe you could...like...carry it on? If I don’t come back?”

“Lena knew about Lumeria?” Kara asked, visibly surprised.

The butch woman shrugged, grinning. “Yeah, Lena figured me out in about 5 seconds flat. Got me to spill the whole sorry story.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?” Kara asked, sounding hurt.

Tara shrugged. “I told you, I’m not important. She didn’t want to worry you with everything going on, didn’t want to burden you with the death threats or the Cadmus situation. She loves you, Kara, she’d do anything not to hurt you. It’s that damn loyalty gene you both have. I know that’s the reason that you didn’t tell her you thought I was trying to manipulate her, to get her into bed, or whatever.”

“I see.” Kara said, her features clouded in thought.

“I know you don’t like me, and I deserve that - I was a dick to you. But Lumeria hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s just a kid, and her life’s been so shit already. Just...please, try and find her, and keep her safe.”

“Tara, of course I’ll find your friend. We’ll find your friend, all of us together. Just get back here safe and in one piece, ok?” 

Tara beamed in relief, looking for a moment like she wanted to say more, before touching her forelock, and disappearing through the open door, into the street.

“That was very nice of you.” Alex said softly, wrapping an arm around the blonde’s shoulders.

Kara stared at the empty doorway, blinking in the light. “I’ve seen the destruction of whole worlds, Alex, and I’ve met people who would murder others based solely on where they were born or what they look like. I don’t have the energy to hate someone, to hurt someone, just because they hurt my feelings. If you hold onto that anger, it burns through you, and I won’t do it.” Turning to face her sister, she held her arms out for a hug. “I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

Alex stepped into her little sister’s arms, squeezing tightly, breathing in the familiar smell of her washing powder and perfume. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can. I love you, Kara - be safe for me.”

“I love you too.” Kara whispered into Alex’s hair, before stepping away and, with one last stoic smile, walking out into the bright light of day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I’ve had to extend this a couple of chapters - I apologise if the last couple have been a bit plot-heavy - the melodrama will recommence shortly. 
> 
> It’s still as planned plot-wise, though, so the end is in sight.


	10. Chapter 10

Winn Schott has many talents, he would be happy to admit. He could do things with coding that practically made a computer sit up and dance; he could turn his hand to metallurgy, was a dab hand with a needle and thread, and was so good with ballistics that the DEO had let him into the vault more than once to tinker with some newly discovered alien weapon or other.

Right now, though, these all seemed positively paltry compared to his complete inability to act sneaky.

He could feel the sweat trickling down his back, making the cheap polyester shirt cling to his shoulder blades, as he tried surreptitiously to Google “Companies selling Bismuth in Continental United States” on his company laptop, while carefully trying to tap out a text to Kara’s Super phone.

It had, all in all, been a funny few days.

The technician winced a little as he remembered the strong but slender hand wrapping into the fabric of his shirt collar and dragging him unceremoniously into an empty meeting room. He had been slammed against a wall, knocking the air from his lungs, and it had taken a second after the impact to open his eyes and come face to face with an enraged Alex Danvers, one finger jabbing pointedly in his chest, which was a sight Winn had hoped never to see again.

“You listen to me, Winslow.” The Agent had hissed, voice low and determined. “I know how much you care about Kara, and I know how much you care about Lena. There are eyes all over me right now, while my sister is out there busting her balls trying to find a shopping list of items that you’ve never heard of to try and save her girlfriend’s life. She can’t do it alone, Winn. Your best friend needs your help.”

“I-I-I-“ Winn had stuttered, before being cut off by a hand pressed over his mouth.

“ _So_ the question is, Winslow Schott Junior...are you ready to step up?” Alex asked, leaning so close to the man’s face that he could see the glint in her brown eyes.

That was how he found himself nervously searching how and where to find items as varied as scientifically possible, and surreptitiously texting his best friend the answers, expecting at any moment the big hand of retribution (specifically, J’onn’s hand) to close around his shoulder and drag him off to wherever they kept government traitors these days.

Behind him, hovering in the shadows, the last son of mars watched his young associate with a grim smile.

.............................................................

It was taking too long, Kara muttered as she hovered in the crisp, polluted air above Moscow and waited for Winn to send her the information she needed.

Kara bit her bottom lip as she read the co-ordinates to a facility that specialised in low-grade radioactive substances based in outback Nebraska, over 5000 miles from where she stood.

Already, nearly 24 hours had passed into their deadline, and they had gathered 90% of the earth-based items needed. She was tired though, could feel the strain and the stress of the situation stretching her thin, and for once she could feel drag of the miles she’d covered at full pelt, the thefts and the desperate, almost begging conversations she’d had to go through to get to a stage where the Kevlar lined rucksack strapped tightly to her back felt reassuringly full. It felt worryingly like a Power Outage, and she just couldn’t afford that now.

The Kryptonian knew, at the back of her mind, that the internet would be aflame with videos and stories about her smashing into labs to snatch vials of absurdly precious metals or exchanging promises in return for almost unobtainable technologies, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about that yet. There would be time for damage limitation later, when Lena was home and the Lunitha were free.

The problem was that with less than 8 hours left to get all the kit to The Owners, the unfamiliar feeling of fatigue building in her muscles, and with Tara still noticeably off radar, Supergirl was beginning to feel the twinge of doubt in her gullet. Where was the young bodyguard? Had she found what they needed? How did they know that Lena even had a plan? What if the Owners reneged on their agreement, what if they were going to hand the means to total annihilation of the alien population on Earth over to some terrorists in suits, and they’d lose anyway?

Physically shaking herself to clear some of the gnawing fear, Kara took a long breath, basking in the weak midwinter sun for a second of relief. Then, she visibly tightened her muscles to steel, and drove herself onwards to the next grab.

............................................................

Winn sighed a breath of relief, gently laying his iPhone on the desk as he leaned back in the uncomfortable roller-chair and stretched his arms towards the ceiling. 

It was 10:30, an hour and a half to go until the deadline, and he’d just sent Kara the location of the final item on her list: 27 lemons, available at Shengli Groceries and Liquor, 1 block from the church.

There was nothing he could do now but wait, and hope against hope that Tara turned up with the goods she had promised. The woman hadn’t been seen since the moment she parted ways with the Danvers sisters; Winn had scanned the CCTV and even social media for sightings, but it was as though she’d vanished into thin air. Leaning forwards, Winn hit the close button on the Internet browser, just in time to hear a deep voice behind him gruffly speak.

“Agent Schott, I’m surprised to see you still here.”

Winn froze. “I-uh-well you see-“

J’onn stepped forward, arms folded, eyes fixed on the mass of screens that covered one whole wall of the command centre. “I would suggest you going home and getting some sleep, but I imagine you want to wait to see how this pans out too. Did she get everything she needed?”

Deciding that the only option was laying his cards on the table, Winn shrugged. “All the human parts. The off-world stuff is still a mystery. I can’t find hide nor hair of Tara.”

J’onn nodded, slowly, unfolding his arms to place his hands on his hips. “Keep looking. And good work, Agent Schott.” The Director said, turning to leave.

Winn let his shoulders slump in relief, only to seize again at the feeling of a rock-hard grip closing uncomfortably tightly on his trapezius muscle, warm breath hitting just behind his ear. “And just so we’re clear, if you disobey me like that again, I’ll have you put up for treason.”

It took a long time after for Winn’s heartbeat to slow down to a normal rate.

............................................................

Alex had spent the last 31 hours making as much of a mess of the DEO’s tracking systems as she dared, wildly abusing her power to send agents after false leads and running down obviously genuine news stories about Supergirl’s antics until even the most loyal of her team were giving her side eyes. She’d managed to slip away unnoticed around 23:35, making short work of the 4 mile journey to the down town church where she prayed that her sister would be waiting. It had taken a lot of pacing, backtracking, and trips to the ladies changing rooms, but she was confident that she hadn’t been followed out of the DEO, or along the twisting route of side streets and alleyways barely wide enough for her motorbike that she’d taken rather than the main road.

Pulling her bike up as before, the Agent leapt off, throwing her helmet down unceremoniously and scanning the area for the familiar sight of red and blue.

“Thank god, I didn’t think you were coming.” Kara gasped, landing clumsily behind Alex and pulling the woman into a tight hug.

Stepping away, the older Danvers sister blanched at the younger’s appearance. The blonde looked washed out, with dark circles around her eyes and her hair a rats nest. 

“My god, what’s happened to you? Have you blown your powers or something?” 

Kara looked sheepish. “I don’t think I’m far off. I feel...sort of weak? I was struggling to fly here. I can’t understand it - I think maybe the stress is wiping me out.”

Alex was about to admonish the alien wilting in front of her, when she noticed the huge, bulging rucksack that the Super had carefully lowered to the ground. It was the size of an average family chest-of-drawers.

“Carrying that it’s no wonder you’re feeling run down! Is it everything?” Alex asked, crouching down to gingerly poke at the bag.

“Everything except the stuff on Tara’s list. Is she here?”

Looking up with a furrowed brow, Alex shook her head. As if on cue, the bell which miraculously remained in the church’s dilapidated steeple began to sound quarter to the hour.

“Let’s get inside.” Alex said firmly, rising to her feet. “Maybe we can buy them off with this lot.”

Kara bent down to lift the pack wearily, grimacing at the weight. 

“Well I never - Supergirl struggling like a regular _human_. As I live and breathe, wonders will never cease.” 

The two sisters turned towards the voice, Alex moving her hand under her jacket where she had stowed a small blade.

The figure limping up the street in the moonlight was hunched, and making slow progress. Getting closer, it was clear that part of the issue was the large, oddly shaped black plastic bag that they carried, nestled in their arms as if it was a baby or a bomb. The other reason only became apparent when the figure stepped briefly into the yellow glow of a flickering street lamp. Their left trouser leg was torn up to mid-thigh, hanging loose and flapping at each step. The skin underneath was bloody from a sizeable gash that ran nearly the length of the calf until it disappeared under dirty grey ankle socks.

“Tara.” Supergirl whispered, standing a little taller.

“Sorry I’m late, hit a few snags on the way.” The bodyguard said as she finally approached the duo. “I got everything. Did you?”

The blonde nodded. “Everything.”

Alex took in the younger woman’s figure with a grim expression on her face, noting the cuts and bruises that seemed to cover most exposed areas of skin, and the way one eyelid was slowly swelling shut. She felt her heart break a little at the sight of it, but there wasn’t time to wonder about that now. Not when they had a job to do. “Ok, good work. If we’re all ready, let’s go.”


	11. Chapter 11

The work bench they had chained Lena to was little more than a thick slab of varnished pine that rested on top of the battered alter. They’d removed the rather elementary explosives as soon as the deal had been struck, but replaced them with a thick iron manacle instead. 

She surveyed the equipment laid out in front of her with disdain; the kit was little better than that found in any school science lab, and the work area would be cramped at best; at worst, it would be downright dangerous.

She’d overheard some of the chemicals and minerals that the Owners has identified in the make up of the window. They were the sort of items one handled with care, and, in some cases, a hazmat suit and a few feet of reinforced radiation shielding. All they’d given her was a pair of chamois leather gardening gloves, and some swimming goggles. Behind her, the CEO heard one of the Lumeria cry out - a small feminine squeaking that was overplayed with the sound of open palms hitting flesh. Lena’s face hardened. She was going to get the bastards, and make them pay - and the idiots were giving her the means to do it.

Through the holes in the roof came the sound of the ancient bell tolling midnight. Behind her, the door to the vestry that was being used to hold the hostages was kicked open, and two men manhandled the familiar blue haired woman into the church, throwing her to the cold slabbed floor. The woman remained silent, as always, her eyes dark with hatred as she scanned the people around her. 

“It seems our friend is late.” A friendly voice said from the shadows of the nave. Samuel stepped into the light, his grey-white hair freshly smoothed down. He had removed his blazer to reveal a pale blue shirt and braces, and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbow. He looked every inch the kind retired gentleman, maybe readying himself for an evening of tinkering with gadgetry in his shed. The image was only tarnished by the handgun he held in his left hand; with the right, he clicked a clip of ammunition in place, the sound dulled by the vast emptiness of the room.

“Wait! Hold your fire!”

Lena felt her heart start beating again at the sight of Alex Danvers striding down the darkened aisle, a murderous expression on her face. Walking in tandem behind her, arms full and chins held high, was Supergirl and Tara. Tears sprung to the CEOs eyes at the sight of her girlfriend, in one proud piece. 

“Let her go - we got what you asked for.” Alex stopped in front of the old man, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing for her companions to put their bags down.

Samuel went an ashen white. “How dare you bring them into this building!”

The agent raised an amused eyebrow. “That’s cute. My companions here helped me...organise...the kit you need. They will be here with me until this is all over.”

“An abomination and a-“ the man spat, voice raised.

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you.” Alex hissed.

Lena wasn’t watching the tableau taking place right in front of her. Her eyes were fixed on Tara; the young bodyguard’s eyes had grown three sizes, and her hands were visibly shaking. Without moving her head, Lena followed Tara's line of sight behind Samuel to where the Lunitha was still sprawled on the ground. The alien was, to Lena’s shock, sobbing - sobbing, and smiling, and staring at Tara as if no one else existed. 

The clattering of multiple items being emptied unceremoniously onto the work bench startled her from her reverie. 

“Be careful with those!” Samuel barked; he went unheard.

Lena was startled to see her lover looking so gaunt, her eyes lit only with the glowing softness that she reserved for her human partner.

“Are you ok, baby?” Lena whispered, her voice barely audible.

“I will be, soon.” The Kryptonian winked with a forced smile. Lena let herself relax, just for a moment, lulled by the security that emanated from the hero in waves. It came as a shock when rough hands shoved her to one side, the chains holding her in place rattling as she fought to stay standing. Kara’s eyes burned for a second, before dimming when she saw Lena quickly shake her head. 

“It’s all here!” One of the men who had barged between the lovers to get to the goods shouted excitedly.

“It looks like it’s your time to shine, Ms Luthor.” Samuel said in a sickly voice, clapping his papery hands together.

Getting slowly to her feet, the brunette eyed the table; vials and bags and tubs and metal cylinders lay all jumbled together, masking tape on the side of each showing what was contained, written in Kara’s neat reporters handwriting.

“Time to shine, Lena.” The scientist repeated to herself.

_Time to burn it the fuck down, more like._ she thought.  
.............................................................

There had been a fearsome row.

Samuel had turned puce with how vehement he had gotten on the subject of Tara and Supergirl staying in the church; Alex had gone crimson, her voice getting progressively lower and more clipped, a sure sign that an explosion was coming. In the end, it had taken Lena angrily insisting that she needed absolute quiet to complete her work that had calmed the situation down.

Now, they just sat quietly, the three free women lounging in various forms on the hard pews, while in the darkness dozens of eyes watched them with barely restrained hatred.

It had been four hours, and Lena was marvelling at exactly how easy the process was, even despite the fact that several of the ingredients were from worlds she had never even heard of. It was barely more than a cake recipe, all things considered, and she’d already ordered one of the hulking fascists to go and find her a glass kiln and a bottle of Hendricks gin (he’d returned sometime later with an improbably new kiln, the booze, and a thoughtfully large, if slightly grubby, tumbler. Lena hadn’t bothered to wonder where he’d found the items at 4am, but had gratefully accepted them).

Now they were waiting on the glass kiln as it slowly counted down until the moment Lena could confirm her guesstimates had been accurate. She’d stuck the small tablet in the oven for the same length of time she would regular window glass, and at the same temperature, and was spending her time praying that the unstable chemicals and the heat wouldn’t cause a radioactive explosion, and trying to work out what was going on between her bodyguard and the blue haired woman.

Tara’s eyes hadn’t moved off the young-looking Lunitha since the moment she clapped eyes on her, but equally her face hadn’t stopped moving, her lips muttering silently, as if she was having a wordless conversation with the alien. Lena sipped her gin, feeling an extra weight of responsibility settle in the pit of her gut as the certainty grew that the woman with the blue hair and the furious, terrified eyes was Lumeria, the orphan wild-child that she’d been hunting on Tara’s behalf before the situation had...escalated.

Next to her on the bench, the buzzer on the glass kiln went off, causing every figure in the church to get to their feet. Lena had to fight a wave of concern as she saw Kara stumble slightly, hunching over with her hands resting on her thighs. Alex placed a questioning hand on her sister’s bicep and was rewarded with a warm smile. Before Lena could question the scene further, Samuel stepped into her line of vision.

“Well now, lets see how you got on, shall we?” He said warmly, sounding less like a neo-Nazi and more like a small town science teacher during exam week, although Lena could hear the suggested threat behind the words.

Sighing dramatically, the youngest Luthor put her goggles back on, slipping her hands into the gardening gloves for the small amount of protection they offered, and, using an old oil rag that she’d found wrapped around one of the more dangerous metal canisters, opened the door to the kiln.

The Window was still hot when she pulled it out, but was cooling rapidly. It sat in her hand like a sea-smoothed stone warmed by a hot sun, glistening the same purple-green as she remembered the existing Window being.

Lumeria was dragged across the floor by her long hair, hands clawing at the wrists of her muscular attacker and curse words in multiple languages spewing from her lips.

Lena bent to help the alien as soon as she was thrown at the CEO’s feet, but the younger woman just scowled, pulling away angrily. 

_You’ll get yours, you bitch._

Lena blinked at the words reverberating around her head in a soft English accent. ‘She’s a telepath!’ Lena thought excitedly.

_I know what I am._ Lumeria hissed. _When I get out of here, I’m going to make you disappear, you and your bloody girlfriend._

‘We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it,’ Lena thought fervently, trying to hold her face expressionless. ‘I need you to listen to me first - they’re going to ask you to open this portal soon, and I need you to make sure you can project whatever goes through at least 400 metres away. I really can’t stress that enough.’

The woman glowered suspiciously. _You want me to help you escape, are you kidding?_

‘No, I want you to help your people escape so I can make these pricks pay.’

There was a noisy, tense stand off between the two women, overset by Samuel’s increasingly frustrated talking. Eventually, the Lunitha gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Fine.” She said out loud, wiping a strand of blue hair out of her sweaty face without taking her eyes off Lena.

‘Tell the others to kick off as soon as the portal is open.’ Lena thought, hoping that Lumeria was still listening. The alien had already closed her eyes and begun muttering in the strange, earwax melting cadence that she had before. Samuel was almost vibrating on the spot with excitement.

In Lena’s hand, the Window began to expand. Through it, she could see a vast area of wasteland appear, scrubby weeds blowing ethereally in the darkness. She was still staring at the image when the first shout sounded out. The brunette turned in time to see Daniel crashing to the floor, Alex’s hand still hovering around throat height in the air. There was a blur of colour too quick to see, and Kara collapsed heavily onto the floor next to Lumeria, panting. The tinkle of metal on stone echoed through the church as the Owner’s many mangled firearms fell to the floor.

“Supergirl!” Lena shrieked, reaching for her lover. 

“I’m ok, I’m ok, I just...” Kara looked up with big, worried blue eyes. “I think I pretty much blew the last of my powers.”

Lena frantically glanced back towards the nave. The fight was in full swing; Alex was dancing around, hands and feet a blur, a tiny and razor-sharp knife appearing in her hand as if from nowhere. On the other side of the aisle, Tara was fighting the way Lena had seen a few times before - all claws and teeth and trickery, the kind of street fighting that tore away earlobes and crushed through trachea; there was no sign of her being hindered by her injuries or fatigue. All eyes apart from Lumeria’s glassy grey ones were focused on the brawl in the main part of the church.

“Darling, get to the back - get the Lunitha and we can start getting them to safety.” Lena hissed, helping the blonde to her feet. Seeing the uncertainty on Kara’s face, the Luthor cupped her cheek. “It’s going to be ok, love. Just trust me, ok?”

Kara leaned briefly into the touch with eyes closed, before bending down and with a great deal of effort, wrenching away the chain that tied Lena to the floor. With a half smile, she rushed away. Lena glanced again at the fight. It wasn’t going well. The women were being edged back by the throng of enemies, moving slowly backwards towards the chanting Lunitha. Without wasting another second, the scientist turned and began carefully but efficiently placing some of the more risky materials and the off-world items littering the bench into the original bag. Then, with great care, Lena poured a bright green liquid into an empty metal flask, and into another she measured out an amount of powder which she mixed with the remnants of the gin, taking great pains not to shake the liquid once it was mixed. 

“Go, go! Straight through the portal!” Lena heard Kara shouting in a firm voice behind her, and the sound of many tentative feet disappearing through the Exousia Window and into the night beyond.

“Danvers!” 

Lena whipped round to see Alex falling backwards, gripping her left arm with crimson blood already oozing through her fingers. A man with small, viciously sharp hatchet stood over her smirking triumphantly. His grin died on his lips as Tara’s small, angry fist connected with the bone behind his ear with a disgusting crunch.

Without hesitation, the bodyguard wrenched her ally up by her good arm and began half running half dragging both of them towards the portal. Behind them, their adversaries pressed forwards.

“We’ve got to go!” The black woman screamed, as the last of the Lunitha disappeared through the glass. 

“Go, take her, quickly!” Kara said, a hand on the younger woman’s back shoving her forward. Alex groaned.

“Lumeria...” Tara asked, hesitating. 

“I’ll bring her!” Kara growled, turning to plant a firm fist in the centre of the nearest enemy’s face.

Tara glanced fervently between Kara, her boss and the woman wilting in her arms. “Fuck!” She cursed, before scuttling through the tall doorway.

“Come on!” Lena shouted, her arms full with the items that she desperately needed to get out of the building before the fireworks started. On the table behind her, two brightly coloured liquids crept towards each other across the workbench, oozing out of the holes that she had punched into the two metal flasks. “Baby, please! We have to go _now_!”

The hero glanced between her partner and the workbench, realising instantly what was happening. A hand closed on her shoulder, and without thinking she ducked under the swinging fist and planted an upper cut into the startled man’s testicles. “Go! I’ll catch you up!”

The human paused, dithering in the opening before she felt firm hands closing on her forearm and dragging her into the cold night air, nettles scratching at her bare feet.

Kara saw her go, and managed a wan smile. Behind her, the explosives were beginning to smoke as their respective fumes mixed together. 

Fending off another attacker with a well placed front kick, Kara pivoted, grabbing Lumeria roughly by the shoulders and, before the Exousia window could wink shut, shoved the startled alien through.

The little glass circle clattered to the floor, smashing into a million pieces.

Samuel shrieked, horrified. Kara grinned.

“Let’s finish this.” She said, before diving into the scrum in front of her.

......................................................

Lena screaming was what finally spurred Alex Danvers into life. Using her good arm, she pushed off the floor and began to sprint back towards the street, back towards the church.

She was almost at the edge of the field, squeezing through a hole in a rusty chain link fence, when rough arms tackled her to the ground. There was a scuffle, and a click, and suddenly the agent was unable to move, her arm locked with her own handcuffs to some defunct pipework sticking uselessly out of the weeds.

“Let me go!” Alex screamed, kicking at the metal. “That’s my sister!”

Tara stood over her, panting. “Can’t let you do that, Danvers.” And then the woman was gone, running down the street towards the front door of the church. She got a few feet away, and skidded to a halt in the lee of a raggedy half dead tree. Dipping into a crouch, she shouted back, “I really like you, Alex Danvers. Just remember I really liked you.” And then she was gone.

Alex howled and yanked furiously on her chains as Tara disappeared from view.

........................................................

Kara tried to cover her face, but it was getting harder as more of her enemies gathered round. All she could think about was when the explosion would happen and why it was taking so long. The strange feeling of pain was terrible, and the Kryptonian was so blindsided by it that she didn’t realise at first that the beating had stopped until she felt muscular arms closing around her midsection and hauling her to her feet. 

“I’ll blow it! I’ll fucking blow it!” Tara was screaming, one hand waving a small round item, about the size of her fist and olive green. “I’ll blow us all to hell!”

“You wouldn’t dare, sinner!” Samuel snarled, although Kara could see through her dazed state that he was holding back along with the rest of his goons, eyes trained on the incendiary held in the young woman’s grip. 

“You bet your life?” Tara hissed, inching towards the door, sagging slightly under Kara’s limp weight.

“You’ll get yours.” The old man promised with dark eyes.

Standing on the doorstep, the bodyguard allowed herself a smile. “Not before you get yours, fascist.”

Samuel barely had time to flinch before the circular object left Tara’s hand, flying through the air and connecting with his greying head. Around him, men dived for cover, grunting, but the anticipated explosion never came. Staring, disbelieving, at the item on the floor, the man bent down, picking up the broken body of a mushy, overripe crab apple. 

“Sucker!” Came Tara’s voice from just outside the door.

“Get the-“ Samuel began, spit raining from his mouth in anger. He never finished the sentence.

.....................................................................

Supergirl opened her eyes gingerly. They were still swollen from the beating she had taken, but had already begun to heal as the first rays of morning broke through the darkness and made her cells dance.

She was lying on her back in the street, and she was in agony, but she was alive. It was impossible, but she was definitely alive. The alien scanned her memory carefully; Lena was alive; Alex was alive; they’d gotten the Lunitha out. Even Tara was-

Kara’s eyes widened. “Tara?” She whispered, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth dryly. 

There was no answer. She could feel the outline of an arm still wrapped around her shoulders, but it was still and limp. Twisting her head, the blonde could make out the other woman’s outline, her head with its short cropped hair facing in the opposite direction at a funny angle. “Tara?” She tried again.

“Did we get the bastards?” Came the reply, barely audible now Kara’s hearing had reduced to average.

Kara, struggling to lift her head, stared back at the rubble of the church. The roof had fallen in, taking three of the walls with it. The fourth wall remained, its windows smashed out and the iron bars bent back by the force of the blast. She couldn’t hear anything; the scene in front of her was a silent movie, lit by the fire from a gas main that had gone up under the floorboards. There was no way that anything human could have survived that. Rao, _She_ had hardly survived it. Pressing both hands over her eyes to try and rid the images that were dancing in her brain of the last 2 days, Supergirl allowed her head to slump back onto the broken tarmac of the road.

“Yeah, we got them pretty good.”

“That’s good.” Tara mumbled, unmoving.

“Why did you come back for me? You could have died.” The hero allowed a note of anger into her voice. “You don’t even like me!”

Tara sighed, lolling her head towards the sun. “Yeah, well, every family has its problems.” Glacier slow, the fighter rolled onto one elbow, groaning at the effort, and slapped the Super’s shoulder fondly. “You can pay me back by stopping your sister from fucking _murdering_ me.” She added, collapsing back to the floor.

“You used a piece of fruit to hold up a gang of nazis, I think you’ll be ok.” Kara managed after a long minute.

Through her pain, Tara grinned wickedly. “Wait til you hear what I had to do to get the ζhdmfσεaeçt from the Brom gang, now _that’s_ a story.”

They lay quietly then, lost in their own thoughts, as the sounds of sirens got ever closer, basking in the watery sunlight and the heat from the burning building.


	12. Chapter 12

“In my defence, I genuinely never though I’d live to face the consequences of my actions.”

Kara sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “That’s...that’s a genuinely terrible excuse for telling my sister that you love her, and then vanishing.”

Tara looked affronted. “Firstly, I said I _liked_ her. Secondly, I didn’t vanish. If you remember, there was a group of angry racists trying to find out what colour Kryptonian brains are at the time - I didn’t have time for a bloody heart-to-heart.”

“And in the following 7 weeks?” 

The younger woman looked a little embarrassed, leaning against the side of the van. “The subject never came up.”

The white woman shook her head, glancing over the park to where her sister sat with Lena, cross legged on the picnic blanket, enjoying the last of the summer sun. Occasionally, they’d peek back towards the ice cream truck, heads close together; Kara could guess what they were talking about.

“You’re such a coward.” 

“I ran into a building that was about to explode and saved your life.” Tara sniffed, looking affronted.

The Super shrugged. “You’re still a coward.”

“Perhaps you should stop trying to get me to date your sister then.” The younger woman growled.

“You make her happy.” Kara said simply, shrugging. “I mean, I’ll be honest, I still think you’re a bit of a dick, but you’ve never been anything but respectful to Alex, and I can tell the way you look at her that you’d be good to her. I mean, come on - you saved me so she wouldn’t put herself in danger.”

The butch woman shoved her hands into her baggy jeans, staring at the toes of her brown leather boots. “I would do anything for her. She...she makes me kind of crazy. But in the sort of way where I want to be better - to be good enough - for her. I guess I just...I’d rather be here as her pal than as nothing at all.”

The blonde snorted. “That sounds familiar.”

Tara frowned, finally looking up. “Why?”

Kara waved a dismissive hand. “Doesn’t matter. I’m only going to say this once more, ok? Alex went through a lot when she first came out, and I can tell you that she isn’t the sort of woman to hold your feelings against you. If she doesn’t feel the same way, she’ll tell you so, and then she’ll bend over backwards to make sure you can still be friends. But I’ve seen the way she acts with you, and how she looks when you walk into a room. Just...take the gamble, Tar, ok?”

The woman looked unconvinced, staring across the crowded expanse of yellow grass. “I’ll think about it.”

“What’ll it be?” The vendor asked, already reaching for a cone.

Kara placed the order, letting the tactful silence bloom and grow between them until it stood hot and aching and suffocating all around them, begging to be filled.

When Tara spoke, however, it wasn’t to say what Kara expected to hear.

“It wasn’t for Alex, you know. That day in the church.”

“No?” Kara asked, twirling a $20 note between her fingers.

“Nope. It was for me. And you.” Tara lifted her chin then, looking proud, and brave, staring the alien directly in the eyes. It reminded Kara of that day weeks ago, when she was sure they were going to die. She shivered. “I told you, we’re family now, Danvers. You’re one of mine, whether you like it or not.”

Around them was the sound of birds singing, and children playing. Kara closed her eyes, tilting her head to the sun, enjoying the way it made her muscles twitch, enjoying the smell of Tara’s sun cream; the ice cream being scooped into huge, sweet waffle cones; the dying grass. 

“That’s kind of terrifying.”

Tara giggled, once more just an average woman out for a Sunday morning picnic. “Shut yer face.”

............................................

 

“I am not going to ask her out! She’s like 10 years younger than me, and besides, it would be weird.” Alex hugged, licking a blade of grass off the cuff of her skinny jeans.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Don’t be dramatic, she’s 23 - she’s 5 years younger than you, although mentally I think she’s about 47.”

“It would be _weird_.” Alex repeated firmly.

The business woman wrinkled her nose, pulling the skirt of her sundress down to tuck under her knee. “Why?”

“Well for a start, all that shit with her and Kara.” The older woman muttered defensively.

“That’s over with. Look at them. They’re best buddies now.”

Both women turned to look back towards the ice cream truck, where their two friends were chatting amicably away. Kara said something that made the butch woman laugh, and she gave a friendly punch to the blonde’s bicep, shaking her hand out afterwards to try and take the sting off her bruised knuckles.

Alex looked unconvinced. “You think Kara wouldn’t mind?”

Lena rolled her eyes. “I think Kara is probably over there trying to convince our little butch friend to ask you out.”

“But what if...” The Agent asked, biting her thumb nail.

“What ifffffff?” Lena prompted.

“What if you’re misreading the signs? What if she doesn’t...like me....like that?” 

“She told you she liked you. Screamed it at you, in fact, in the middle of the street.”

Alex pulled her hoodie closer to her lithe body. “Yeah but what if she meant it as in friends? Or she meant that she respected me as an agent? God, that would be so embarrassing!”

Lena sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I can’t even begin to tell you how ridiculous that statement is. How anyone ends up in a lesbian relationship is beyond me.”

Alex opened her mouth to respond, but shut it again quickly when she saw the others approaching from across the park, hands laden with ice creams.

“One cone for Lena, one cone for me, and one bubblegum screwball for Alex.” Tara said softly, handing round the treats. When she passed the small plastic cup to the elder Danvers, their fingers brushed and both women blushed. Lena stared pointedly at the sky, biting her tongue.

“Uh, yeah, great. Thanks.” Alex coughed, twiddling the little wooden spatula sticking out of the top of the ice cream.

“Any...time.” Tara finished.

Kara sat down, an ice cream in each hand, smirking across at her lover.

The silence was awkward, and almost unbearable. 

“So Alex,” Tara began, louder than she had intended. The other woman looked up, white cream in the corner of her mouth. “I might go for a walk. A stroll. Around the duck pond. Do you want to join me?”

The taller woman nodded dumbly, wiping her mouth in the back of her sleeve. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Let’s just...” she nodded emphatically in the direction of the small, greenish pond.

“Should we have offered to go with them?” Kara asked, shuffling closer to her partner as she popped the end of the first cone into her mouth.

“Oh gods, no. It’ll be a miracle if they even get round to it on their own, let alone if we were chaperoning them.”

The Kryptonian smiled, gently placing her hand over that of her girlfriend. Lena looked up at her, eyes big, and green, and lovely, a small chuckle dancing on her rouged lips.

“Remind you of anything?” Kara whispered.

“A little. I love a good trip down memory lane, my darling.” Lena sighed back, leaning to rest their foreheads together, breathing in the smell of Kara’s skin, and the ice cream on her breath, as the park melted away around them. “Let’s finish these, and then you can take me home, eh?”

Kara placed a reverent kiss to the Luthor’s brow. 

Across the park, she could hear her sister stammering through a question; hear Tara’s heart thundering in her chest. Supergirl removed her glasses, running her hands lazily through her hair as she soaked up the rays (it had been decided that the glasses and up-do weren’t the brilliant disguise everyone had thought, around the time Tara looked J’onn squarely in the eyes and said “I knew she was Supergirl because she _looks_ like Supergirl”. Kara still wore them though for the comfort they gave, despite the teasing). It was, all things considered, a perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are chaps and chapesses: the end, and it’s sickly sweet and sappy, because everyone deserves a happy ending (except Nazis - they can get tae fuck). Thanks to the people who stuck with this story.


End file.
